Joconde Imprime birthday cake

Back when I was in high school, I used to wish for my birthday to fall on a weekday, so that all my friends could wish me a happy birthday in person. Pretty narcissistic, no? I'd even let them know the day before so that they wouldn't forget. The few that did forget got the cold shoulder treatment and we've never spoken since - kidding, kidding! But I really did get upset when my family forgot to say "happy birthday!". It's usually because we had already celebrated it the weekend before.

Last week, we celebrated my sister's birthday with a nice dinner out at Dooleys in Lidcombe. I always get major guilt when it comes to birthdays during this time of year, because they usually coincide with the end of a university teaching period, and that means EXAMS. And when you literally have a mountain of textbooks to get through, and fifty thousand lectures to revise, and...I think you get my point. It's hard to find the time to bake your relatives a beautiful birthday cake, even though you really, really want to. And if it so happened that their birthday fell on a weekday; well, the chances of making them a cake just went from 'unlikely' to 'impossible'.

However, it appears that the stars aligned on my sister's birthday and, not only did I not have exams coming up in the near future, I got the day off from uni! A bit of research and planning beforehand meant that I was able to put together this joconde imprime birthday cake with relative ease. I especially credit the Daring Bakers challenge from a while back, and all the blog entries it'd spawned. No doubt it would take some practice yet for my joconde imprime to look as good as some of the ones made by other bloggers.

It tasted better than it looked!

As for the filling - I decided early on that I wanted several, distinct layers. My brainstorming yielded the following: a cream cheese mousse at the bottom, with a layer of strawberries in the middle, and topped with a berry mousse of some kind. As you can see from the picture above, things didn't exactly go according to plan. The cream cheese mousse turned out all right, although I would use a tad less gelatin in the future (or go with sheet instead of powdered). The fresh strawberry middle layer was replaced with plums, due to the fact that 1) plums are cheaper and 2) I needed the precious punnet of strawberries for decorating the top of the cake. And as for the berry mousse...major, MAJOR disaster. Seriously, the moment I saw the mousse splitting - it felt like my heart was being split apart as well, no joke. I beat myself up over it for days afterwards, regretting the time, materials and effort wasted.

And so I baked a sponge cake and used that instead that as the top layer. It looked rather plain, so I covered it with jelly and strawberries. I wish I could say that this cake was what I'd envisioned all along, but the truth is that my cakes often bear no resemblance to the original plans. But since those original plans exist only in my head, I guess no one else will be any the wiser, right? :D

Degustation dinner at Al Muntaha, Dubai

Dubai - what a city! For those of us who never quite excelled at geography in high school, Dubai is not located in India (I deserve any judgement you throw my way), but is in fact one of the seven cities (or 'Emirates') of the United Arab Emirates. The UAE itself is situated on the Persian Gulf, and lies north of Saudi Arabia, west of Oman, and south of Iran.

Image from wikipedia; amateur annotations my own.

Dubai is a shopaholic's paradise, and those with the resources may splurge to their hearts' content on designer fashion wear, beautifully crafted jewellery from the gold souks, and - my personal favourite - edible goodies from various gourmet food stores. Truth be told, my own relatively modest 'resources' restricted my splurges to the edible variety; think of how many bars of camel milk chocolate one can buy for the price of a Louis Vuitton bag!

The Burj Al Arab

Designed to resemble the sail of a ship, the Burj Al Arab is described as a "7-star hotel", and is the 4th tallest hotel in the world. Room prices apparently vary from $1000 to $27000 per night. Egads! For that amount of money, I'd rather book myself into a couple of degustation dinners. And still have enough left over to buy a cat. I've always wanted a cat.

The very cool, futuristic roof design of Al Muntaha restaurant

I was delighted to find out that we would be celebrating a family member's birthday at Al Muntaha, one of the restaurants in the hotel. Not only would I have the opportunity to check out the hotel's interior design, I would also get to enjoy a 6-course degustation dinner while suspended 200m above the Persian Gulf. 

Complimentary bread basket

Soon after we were seated, our server brought over two bread baskets and pats of salted and unsalted butter.

Unsalted butter on left, salted on right

The bread wasn't amazing, but I ate loads of it anyway. I've always harboured the irrational fear that I would starve while dining at a fine restaurant, because of the legendary tiny portions. As it turned out, we left the restaurant feeling comfortably stuffed. I needn't have worried - the portion sizes were reasonable, and the food was so rich that a little went a long way!

Complimentary amuse-bouche

I didn't note down what the three elements of the amuse-bouche was, but I think the soup was pumpkin, and the stuff in the spoon is cucumber salad. No idea about the middle one.

Yellow fin tuna tartare, wasabi, confit ginger, soy & coriander, dashi broth

Our server, who was very friendly and had a nice, soothing voice, acquired a copy of the degustation menu for me to keep as a souvenir. I can therefore describe the rest of the meal in better detail. The picture above shows our first proper course for the degustation. The tartare tasted exactly the way it's described. The dashi broth reminded me of those packet miso soups. Sorry.

The tuna tartare

Seeing the next course on the menu had me buzzing with anticipation even before they'd brought out the dish.

Escalope of Foie Gras, wild mushroom fazzoletti, winter truffle emulsion

I won't pretend that I understood half the words in its description, but FOIE GRAS and TRUFFLE jumped out at me. It's like a foodie wet dream come true, yes? I admit that my excitement was partly due to the hype and 'aura of chicness' surrounding foie gras and truffle, but there was a large part of me that was genuinely interested in tasting the two ingredients. Whilst I wouldn't go so far as to describe my first bite of the foie gras as "transcendental", it did cause this euphoric feeling that could best be likened to the first time I ate butter on its own. It was like, 'wow, I didn't know so much flavour could be concentrated into such a small package!' Sadly, only that euphoric feeling has stayed with me; I have already forgotten the taste and scent of both the foie gras and the truffle :'(

Seared Norwegian scallop, declinaison of Topinambourg, aged balsamic

The scallops were well-cooked, the artichoke ("Topinambourg") puree tasted interesting, and the concentrated drizzles of balsamic vinegar balanced out the fattiness of the scallops. I liked it.

Grilled Angus beef fillet, pea puree, beetroot fondant, pomme puree beef jus

This was the last of our savoury courses. I felt assured by this point that I was not going to starve from eating a degustation meal ;) The beef was very tender; a bit too soft, I thought. Possibly cooked sous vide beforehand? 

Brillat savarin sorbet, poached quince, star anise sabayon, candied ginger

I had no idea what this dessert would taste like. It looked like some sort of panna cotta, so I was pleasantly surprised when my first spoonful tasted like blue cheese! I found out later that brillat-savarin is a type of cheese - a triple cream brie, to be exact. This dish has inspired me to incorporate savoury cheeses into my future desserts.

Winter fruit & balsamic compote, chocolate & raspberry chantilly

This was our second dessert course, and final course for the degustation. This dish was visually stunning, but left me uninspired taste-wise. The pairing of (what tasted like) chocolate-coated fruit cake and raspberry sorbet was not ideal.

The restaurant also kindly gave us a cake to celebrate our family member's birthday. We had it for lunch the next day :D

Over all, this was an experience to be treasured. The food was undoubtedly delicious, just slightly unmemorable. Perhaps I set my standards too high? Did I go into the degustation with unrealistic expectations in my head, because I had read about so many other degustation meals with far more breath-taking dishes? Watching the documentary ' el Bulli: The Last Waltz' on the plane probably hadn't helped either ;) Still, I feel very grateful to have had the opportunity to dine in such an environment. 

Gelato Messina, Darlinghurst

OH YESSS - I have finally made the trip to Gelato Messina in Darlinghurst!

I have literally spent weeks fantasising about this visit. It got so out of hand that I travelled by light-rail to its other store at The Star, in Pyrmont (not realising at the time that the Darlinghurst store was actually closer) two weeks ago, just to take the edge off my cravings. I had a scoop of the delicious 'Apple Pie' gelato, and that in combination with three macarons from Adriano Zumbo a few stores down sent me straight into a sugar coma. Not an entirely unpleasant way to round off the working week.

However, my brief encounter with the "best gelato in Australia" at The Star only intensified my desire to visit the flagship store. It was mostly borne out of a sense of curiosity over the 'Creative Department (Laboratorio and Patisserie)' which recently opened next to its main store at the Darlinghurst location. From what I'd seen on other people's blogs, as well as on Messina's own website, the Laboratorio sells an amazing array of gelato-based cakes, in single-serves or as big cakes which will feed 14-16 people.

One of the big cakes: 'Dr Evil's Magic Mushroom'

My jaw dropped when I saw the 'Dr Evil's Magic Mushroom'. Or rather, a whole troop of them (yes, "troop" is the collective noun for mushrooms!). Fingers-crossed that Messina keeps making them until the end of this year, because I cannot think of a cake I want more for my birthday!

Some more large cakes

All of the large cakes looked fantastic.

And still some more.

As did the small cakes.

The small mushroom cakes are called 'Mini Me', lol xD 

It was very cool (pun intended!) that some of the small cakes were being made on counters right next to the entrance to the lab. My friend P., who'd met up with me for an ice cream date, and I watched the making of the 'Samurai' for a while, before proceeding to the main store for some gelato! 

The 'Samurai', which to me looks like an 

upside-down Magnum that's been attacked by Gloomy Bear 

 We did originally have plan to sample at least one of the small cakes, and P. in particular was looking forward to trying the 'Darlo Bar', which is an ice cream sandwich consisting of peanut butter gelato and spiced gingerbread, amongst other things. However, I really wanted to try some of the gelato flavours which were on the 'Specials' board that day. P. was nice enough to split a 'Misto' with me - a sampler or tasting plate of 5 gelato flavours, if you will.

As you can probably imagine, we had a very hard time picking only 5 flavours. Everything sounded so good!

But choose we did...there was the '1985', which was from the 'Specials' board. It's a coconut gelato, with huge shards of chocolate and cherry jam stirred in. It does look like a lot of jam, but it wasn't overly sweet. I really liked this one! The gelato tasted strongly of coconut, and I think I could taste bits of desiccated coconut in there.

The '1985'

The 'Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich', also from the 'Specials' board, had real bits of bread in it! Well, "vanilla soaked brioche', to be specific :D The gelato was peanut butter flavoured, and the raspberry jam was swirled in. I love my peanut butter, so I loved this flavour. An even stronger peanut butter flavour would have been even better.

'Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich' - can you see the bread?

The 'Boss's Wife', consisting of "coffee and hazelnut gelato with hazelnut and white chocolate praline", was my favourite. There's no mistaking that this gelato had COFFEE in it - I got a caffeine kick out of it, and I usually take my coffee strong and black. I admit to being guilty of deliberately finding the pieces of praline, and eating them while my friend P. was preoccupied with the other flavours.

'Boss's Wife' - I hope the actual allusion is a lot more innocent than it sounds ;D

Talking about my friend P.; her favourite flavour was the 'Saffron with Pistachio & Orange Cake', which was also the last 'Specials' flavour that we ordered. No surprise there, as she's a major fan of the pistachio and orange cake that Black Star Pastry in Newtown does. I was happy to let her have her way with it since I was busy prying the praline pieces out of the coffee gelato anyway.

'Saffron with Pistachio & Orange Cake'

And last but not least - the 'Poached Figs in Marsala' was loaded with dried figs, and my friend and I both enjoyed it.

'Poached Figs in Marsala'

The scoops weren't huge, but we had plans to have dinner after our gelato date so we agreed to leave the cakes to another day. And with flavours being changed on a weekly basis, there's no doubt that I will be back for many more visits in the future!

Gelato Messina - Darlinghurst Store/The Creative Department (Laboratorio & Patisserie)

241-243 Victoria Street,

Darlinghurst NSW 2010

Phone: (02) 8354 1223

Website: http://www.gelatomessina.com/

Random Round-up! Part 2

Here's the second instalment in my "Random Round-up" series (for Part 1, see here). This is simply a way for me to condense  a whole load of unwritten posts into one big one. The ultimate time-saver! xD

The very existence of this blog is evidence that I take enormous pleasure in food. Perhaps using food as a form of distraction during the more monotonous times in life isn't the most healthy relationship one can have with food, but I do not believe it to be pathological either. After all, the notion of "soul food" had to have come from somewhere. I feel blessed to have the means to satiate my physiological hunger with the beautiful, fresh produce of this country, and fulfil some of my spiritual and emotional needs with the sheer number of unexplored avenues in food: eating it, preparing it, reading up on it, etc.

The 2012 Food Bloggers' Picnic: exemplifying the pivotal role in maintaining a sense of community, and facilitating the social-networking process.

I consider myself to be a person of very simple taste when it comes to food. I don't like having too many different things on my plate, and my poor brain easily gets overwhelmed by too many different flavours and textures administered all at the same time. A hunk of roast beef suffices for dinner, and I find nothing more satisfying than a few squares of dark chocolate for dessert. Therefore, what I'm about to list down as my recent "interesting eats" may not be at all that interesting for most people who read this. Especially for my fellow food bloggers, whose tasting experiences far exceed my own!

The above is a cheeseboard I assembled for a casual dinner party with a few close friends. It wasn't anything special - the cheeses themselves were of the, ahem, supermarket variety. I guess I was inordinately proud of it for that very reason. Here's proof that luxury can be had on a modest budget :D From the top left hand corner we have: white figs, blue cheese, red leicester with walnuts, black seedless grapes, edam, a piece of honeycomb, cream cheese with chives, salt-cured pork charcuterie, dried figs and medjool dates, and some crackers/crispbreads I baked myself using almond flour and chickpea flour.

I assembled the plate above at farewell luncheon we threw for a friend who was due to head off to the United States. I contributed the quiche, while one of my other friends made the dainty wraps and the avocado salad. Although the food was delicious, it was really the people there who made it special. The five of us who were there have been the best of friends since the beginning of high school, and I couldn't have imagined a better way to send our 'sister' off to her new home for the next few years than spending the afternoon chatting away on the verandah, under the warmth of the Australian sun.

One of the perks of having friends who are as interested in food as you are is that you always eat well at social gatherings. The farewell luncheon was but one example of the superb spreads we would have at such events. The white chocolate and berries cheesecake, looking as gorgeous here in the photograph as it did in real life, featured at a tea party at a friend's house. No need to fork out a load of cash for finger sandwiches at a swanky tea room! We sure had ourselves a proper feast that day. Gorging ourselves on chicken schnitzel sandwiches and cold roast beef didn't stop us from going back for seconds of this no-bake cheesecake. The fact that it tasted light as air only helped with our self-deception that we totally didn't just undo a week's worth of cardio with this bad-ass diet-breaker.

WHAT IS THIS?! you ask. Talkin' about diet-breakers...during one of my more desperate (and shameful) moments in the midst of preparing for exams, I said "stuff it!" to the low-carb eating plan I was following at the time and made myself a kaya toast sandwich. Two pieces of fluffy white sandwich bread, toasted to the point of charring, then slathered with kaya (coconut jam) and covered with thick slabs of cold butter. I didn't skimp on the butter, as you can witness yourselves in the cross-section shot:

I ate it at 3am in the morning, my eyes swollen half-shut from lack of sleep and my head filled with images of bones, blood vessels, and miscellaneous body parts (I was studying anatomy; just thought I should qualify that statement). This tasted so good, and I was so tired I was past caring about nutrition. The diet could wait until after the exams, my sugar-numbed mind said.

And now - a change of pace. I try to eat healthy most of the time, and avocadoes are so good for you. Yes, they're calorically-dense, but having one of these for a snack is better than a sugar-laden muesli bar, or a tub of low-calorie yoghurt stuffed to the gills with artificial sweeteners and thickening agents. Such was my love for the avocado that I went to great lengths to procure a perfect specimen of each cultivar (which are commonly sold in Sydney) just so I could do a blog entry on it. The entry is still in the works, but the avocadoes themselves have long been eaten. From the left, we have the 'Shepard', the 'Reed' and the well-known 'Hass'. A few spoonfuls into the 'Shepard', I was greeted by the sight of a love heart. How apt. Can you spot it?

The avocado saga continues! Not content with simply eating them, I am in the process of germinating some of the avocado seeds I've kept. I'm pleased to report that at least two of them are showing signs of sprouting!

I stumbled upon some organic purple carrots while browsing Maloneys Grocer. Purple food excites me. The carrots were less sweet than the orange variety, and tasted more...watery? I don't know how else to describe it. I think I prefer the normal orange ones, but I did enjoy the novelty factor (and having my teeth stained purple for the rest of the day).

Going with the theme of purple vegetables - I bought some purple congo potatoes at the Sydney Produce Market at Flemington. There were also many other uncommon varieties being sold there.

Just a few more pictures. Wow, this is getting to be a long post.

I made this black sesame ice cream in the Cuisinart ice cream machine I got for my birthday, following the success of the vanilla bean ice cream. I must have dumped a quarter of a bag of ground black sesame in there to get that shade of grey. Which was fine, because I like my black sesame ice cream to taste strongly of black sesame. Recipe to come!

I call these retro flower cupcakes, because they look like something right out of a vintage issue of Women's Weekly. The frosting is a cream cheese one. I used chocolate freckles and Smarties for the flowers themselves.

Here's the flourless chocolate cake I baked for Valentine's Day...for a female friend and her family. Yeah, no one's snagged me up yet. Gentlemen, send in your applications and I'll make a short-list xP To make it extra-special, I sprinkled it with silver edible glitter, and love heart-shaped confetti. Nauseating, ain't it?

And finally - posing with the king crab that formed the centrepiece dish of our Chinese New Year celebration dinner. I debated for a long time whether or not to share this photo, as I do realise that some may be offended. However, I think that those of us who are omnivorous should acknowledge that our food were once living organisms. This king crab was a magnificent creature, and I enjoyed every single bite of its sweet flesh.

Yeah, I think that's it for now!