Workxcursion

Aaaand it's about time we have an update. I realized that for a while now, every time someone logs on to my blog, first thing they would see was my lament about my ringworm infection - with a picture to boot.

First off, a quick plug to my friend Mark (known in some circles as Quin's hubby-to-be) who's finally put together his long-overdue food blog. He's still brimming with the keenness and enthusiasm of a virgin blogger (4 entries in like less than 2 days); so head over and show some love - esp if you fancy an off-the-wall recipe that one may or may not afford to make.

...

I've been busy with work myself, which explains my absence lately. And after back-to-back 6-day (often double) shifts, we finally have the weekend off! (/^ ^)/ A long weekend at that, cos Monday's job was canceled ahohoho.

But I won't bore you with the details. Instead, let me walk you through a series of photos summarizing my last couple of weeks; featuring 2 travel jobs, several fooding hunts, and one epicly drunken night. Or maybe not that last bit.

First off, CEXP Northern Run! (babelfish says: Coles Express gas stations across Kimberly region of WA i.e. Fitzroy Crossing, Halls Creek and Kunnunura in that order). As most of these are already up on Facebook, I'm just going to select a few worthy for a re-post.


:: Such as this! ::

They say the third time's the charm, and it can't ring any truer for this trip. I may have complained about it to some of you prior to departure, but much to my relief there were NO IRRADIATED MAN-EATING BUGS WAITING TO BITE MY FACE OFF T____T Then we had a good troop ensuring much fun and food flexibility (that means being able to split 50/50 booze-chow fund); and I supposed more importantly, we had relevant biggies from the client's side to make sure there's no mucking about on the store manager's side. So the jobs went relatively smoothly.


:: The vast expanse of flat, empty plains and bright skies ::


:: As we had long hours of drive from one town to another, usually with little to no towns in between, public toilets were sparse and often unimpressive - such as the above ::


:: ... WHICH HOUSES THIS! A BLOODY HOLE IN THE GROUND! Mind you, it's a disabled-friendly hole in the ground::


:: And small, cramped, dodgy looking rooms where we had to share in twos. I'd imagine Mitch and Paul got a bit cozy that night, since the bed was just about right for Felicia and myself ::


:: But we weren't short on good, hearty food though. :) Pictured here, falling-off-bone tender lamb shank, on a bed of creamy mash from Fitzroy River Lodge ::

And then in Kununnura, we had the pleasure of revisiting the Pumphouse Restaurant & Bar
which was quite literally a foodie oasis in the middle of a dry, relic nowhere. It is situated along the Ord River, and has one of the most spectacular sunset views I've seen.

Unfortunately, we missed it this time around. Partly because it's still winter I supposed, so the sun set a lot earlier; and we were feeling lazy from the drive.

Also last time we were there, it was Woodfire Pizza Tuesday* which was kinda what we were going for this visit (because it amounted to quite a cheap bill). But we were there on a Friday, and there were no specials apart from their perpetually $5 Crown Lager wooooaaaahhhh I'd forgotten about that up till then.

But it was a blessing in disguise, as we soon discovered.


:: Which all 3 of them ordered cos they're unadventurous like that. I didn't try the pork as I was busy scoffing down my dinner, but they raved about how spectacular it was, grilled to absolute perfection. I stole a mushroom however; and it (mushroom + sauce) was divine ::


:: But I much prefer my perfectly grilled, succulent, tender-in-the-middle tuna steak. And it was paired superbly with ratatouille and a delicate white port reduction. And the potato gnocchi made up for good starch since it wasn't the biggest meal. But never have I had Such. Perfectly. Cooked. Fish. I would go back to Kununnura just for another piece of this ::


:: And really, that's just too cute ::

For the rest of the night, I think the pictures speak for themselves.


:: Because it was on special. And also cos it wasn't half bad ::


:: Shang Tsung watches you ::








:: Whilst stumbling our way to the BP across the road to get midnight munchies. Thank goodness for 24-hour servos serving hot chicken chips that were wicked yum ::


:: A tribute to our boss man, whom we're always thinking of no matter where we are. Loved, much? ::




:: Goodnight, folks. ::

...

Part 2: CEXP Albany

Which really was just an overnight job for Mitch and myself. The drive took 5 hours plus each way, so we had little time for anything else apart from a decent dinner and of course, work in the morning.

Nothing out of the ordinary occurred throughout the 2 days, except maybe for the lady at the reception who appeared to not know what a debit card is wtf. She asked us to show the credit card that the room was booked under, which we couldn't because our boss did the booking online and usually (i.e. every other time), they never ask for it. So then she said, any credit cards, just for security deposit purposes; and Mitch asked her if his debit card was okay, and she asked, "Does it have credit on it?"

Wtf? Did she mean whether he had money in his account? Cos really it just sounded like she had no idea that a debit Mastercard, as the ads claim, does everything a Mastercard can do, but with one's own money.

Meh. So in the end, we had to fork out a $250 cash deposit up front, which of course, had to be withdrawn from a petrol station across the road cos they didn't bloody have an ATM on the premise. Bodohs. -_- Got charged $4 bank fees sommore, wth. Shame on you, Banksia Gardens. Call yourself a fancy schmancy place.

...

But at least their food was decent, although Mitch's prawns from his Surf n Turf were suspected of being the cause of a bit of tummy rumble over the night.

And mine was just stupidly small.


:: Even though I had an entree, which I had to admit was pretty damn good. Could have done with more cheese though, it looked like it was just dotted with mozzarella. And perhaps a bit more seasoning as well to fully bring out the flavour of the Portobello ::


:: On the other hand, well-seasoned baby squid, perhaps could have done with a few extra seconds on the grill, and tossed over a crisp Greek salad. But goddammit this doesn't pass off as a main! ::

I left that night, feeling half-empty and half-disappointed. Fortunately the possibly-undercooked squid didn't backfire on me. I was bracing for stomach bug at best, salmonella at worst, but really I was just ... hungry, for the rest of the night.

Then again, when am I ever not hungry, eh? As we speak I'm sipping on Frozen Coke Float, which I reckon is one of the most ingenious McD's "Pairing of Two Things to become a New Item!" since Orange McFizz. Shame they took that off the menu back home. :(


xx
Hsin

I work and I drink

I am so exhausted from work.

Not only do we have 6am jobs every morning the whole of last week - which means waking up at 5.00am and leaving the house while it's still dark - there's the damn World Cup.

We started off watching every single match, but then found out the hard way that we are in fact, not build to sustain through the night without sleeping and then going to work straight after. -__- Tried that for 2 days and absolutely died. Until now still haven't had the chance to recover.

On the bright side, we've had all the good staff to work with, especially now that the exam period is more or less over. And having good company makes a world of difference; even the more painful jobs seem a lot more bearable when you can crouch in a corner and laugh at stupid things/people.

And as a bonus, boss Ryan sometimes treat us to brekkie or lunch!


Making his first appearance on this blog

Where upon I finally had the opportunity to try out Bar 399 in Northbridge, which has been raved about by Perth foodies for some time now.

It's a modest, unassuming half-lot, tucked in between all the Asian restaurants, and it's simply marked with a nondescript 399 on its entrance. In fact, it looks rather unimpressive from the outside; but as soon as you step in, you are greeted by breezy lounge music and the
entrancing aroma of freshly roasted coffee beans.



I loved the clever use of space in this cafe. The extensive bar on one side and cosy booths on the other. Throw in rustic wooden floorboards and textured lighting and wah-lah, you have yourself a sexy little establishment. :)

Also present in the place (but not pictured), are paintings which one can actually purchase for a reasonable number of $100 bills.

But all these are secondary to their coffees (and I would assume, meals).

Holy shit their coffees were out of this world.



Even the dusting cocoa they used was quality stuff. I had half the mind to lick the chocolate powder off the cup after I'd finish the coffee. With my finger, of course.

Although who's to say I didn't? :D



xx
Hsin

Hsin takes on the Japs

After not having Japanese for what seems like forever, I had it 3 times at 3 places within the span of one week.

It was AWESOME.

Only reason we don't do Japanese enough is cos Mitch doesn't agree with anything but chicken katsu and chicken karaage. And it's no fun to eat sashimi and drink umeshu by yourself while your partner looks on from his bowl of battered chicken and rice.

So immediate yes when invitation came to go to Kanta after work. Even though we had to drive from Malaga to Langford and then back home to Perth after. Total hours of driving probably came to about... hour and a half?

But ohhh it was so worth it. It was only my second time there because it's so out of the way for us, especially now. And it being a one-chef show, eating at Kanta requires a lot of time and patience, so it's best to go with a chatty bunch of company. :) Last time it was DDHM, and last week it was with Aunty Matt and co.



But yes, the restaurant. A small, 20-sitter family-run place, very low-profile, and promoted via word-of-mouth. Bookings are absolutely necessary on all nights, and as I've mentioned, be prepared to wait for your food.

You can expect some of the most authentic Japanese food, and the menu extends beyond the typical katsu/bento/tempura fares at most Perth restaurants. We usually order several side dishes to share, and then a main meal each just to fill ourselves up. And as the prices are pretty reasonable, we can afford to try many many dishes at one go.

Highly recommended to try:

1) Gyu tataki - thinly-sliced beef, lightly seared, and served with grated daikon and what tasted like miso dipping sauce.


Tender, melt-in-your-mouth beef slices paired with crispy radish shreds.

2) Sashimi platter


Fresh, succulent slices of fish. No need for wasabi and soy sauce, just a squeeze of lemon and indulge. X-)

And one of my favourites:

3) Grilled squid tentacles


Toasty, delightful morsels, seasoned with sea salt and carefully grilled over a low flame.

xxx

Then there was hot pot udon at Shimizu in Harbourtown.


Best remedy on a cold winter afternoon, especially after a full day of shopping. :)

Despite the commercialization of Shimizu, I reckon this branch does one of the better udons in town. The broth was delectable - strong but not heady, flavourful but not to the extend of overwhelming the taste of the noodles.

It was a very simple assemble: soup, noodles, shiitake mushrooms, seaweed and an egg. The prawn tempura was a plus, but ohhh it was a necessary bonus.

xxx

Lastly, the most fanciest of them all - Satsuki in Subiaco.

I've been meaning to try this restaurant for a while now, and what better time than to celebrate Danson's visit to Perth. My Jap food buddy (who isn't back home in KL or miles away in London), back in town to settle some scores haha.

The prices were a bit more atas than the rest, but not exceedingly so. The ambient was relaxed, casual dining, but with a touch of posh since you know, it is Subiaco after all.

We had sashimi,


Seared miso marinated sashimi tuna, served with light miso sauce and a hint of chilli

Sushi.


2 pieces each of soy marinated Zuke style tuna and seared wagyu beef tataki, on a bed of soft, pillowy seasoned rice.


2 pieces each of lightly-smoked scallops and lemon-scented poached octopus

Grilled perch


Pearl perch marinated with white miso, and then grilled and served with homemade turnip pickles

And simmered pork belly.



Which, to be honest, wasn't that great. Danson loved every sinful bite of it though, so I think my lack of appreciation is due to my inability to eat meat fats. Especially a whole chunk of it, no matter how good it's supposed to be. I had to imagine it was tofu, and then quickly wash it down with several cups of green tea. =.= And the egg just tasted like Chinese tea eggs.

But apart from that slight fatty bump, the meal was excellent. Danson ended his dinner as how he always ends his Japanese meals: with green tea ice-cream. I stole a bite under his scornful stare, but we both agreed Kanta does better matcha ice-cream.

Me, I finally had my umeshu. :)


xx
Hsin

Whisk in hand

After a long hiatus, I'm gonna attempt cupcakes once again.

This time around, I will set my priorities straight: Taste and texture before presentation. Instead of driving myself crazy in attempt to perfect the frosting, I am going to first get the basics straight and then work my way from there on.

Today's practice batch is to experiment with:
a) Light, fluffy chiffon cupcakes
b) Using palm sugar in frosting
c) The cone method (for filling cupcakes)


The Cake



I've always preferred light and fluffy cakes to the heavier, dense ones. I find them less jelak, and therefore not get sick of them after the third cupcake. Angel food cakes are the lightest of them all, as they only consist of egg whites and no fats - as opposed to regular butter-and-whole-eggs concoction. I've attempted angel food cupcakes in the past, but they felt a bit too light (ya I know I'm fussy like that), and in my opinion, did not substantiate as 'cupcakes'.

Chiffon, on the other hand, uses both egg whites and yolks, plus some form of fat (the recipe I used called for vegetable oil), and the result is moist, melt-in-your-mouth sponge cake, delicately flavoured by tiny vanilla bean specks.


Yes, there is nothing I won't add vanilla bean to

Attempting light, airy cupcakes = SUCCESS


The Cone Method
Is used to insert fillings such as fruit puree or cream into cupcakes, as instructed with details here.

It's a great way to jazz up a plain cupcake, or to incorporate a different taste and texture to the existing flavour of the cake. I have plans to attempt matcha cupcakes with red bean filling, but baby steps for now, baby steps. Let us learn how to cone the cupcake first.

Things that can and have gone wrong previously:
- Cutting too deep
- Splitting the cupcake
- Breaking portions off the cupcake

To ensure none of the above happens this time around, I made sure to use a sharp paring knife, and took great care not to stab the knife too far down. We don't want blood tinged cupcakes, despite the aesthetic potential in that.

And because I didn't have any fruits or cream to mess around with, I ended up using some apricot jam that I had lying in the fridge. Just to make sure it works.



And it sure as hell did.

Cone method: SUCCESS.


Palm sugar (gula Melaka) frosting

The idea of infusing childhood flavours into cupcakes is not a new thing, according to well, every other food blogger these days. Anyway I wanted to recreate onde-onde (glutinous rice balls filled with palm sugar and tossed in shredded coconut) just because it came to me one night and also because I found pandan leaves in the Oriental market! So happy can, I never appreciated pandan leaves and banana leaves until I came over here and they are practically nonexistent. :(


My idea of gastronomy: Banana leaf-wrapped Pari Bakar (grilled sting ray) with sambal

Other ingredients greatly missed are freshly grinded coconut milk, agar-agar strips, pisang emas (the tiny flavourful bananas), ikan kembung (according to Google, it is called Indian mackerel), salted fish, dried scallops, calamansi limes, freshly grilled prawn paste, Indian mangoes, cempedak. Half these things can probably be found in Asian groceries if I take the time to scour through every single packed-to-the-brim shelves, walls and floorspace, and I will some day.

Anyway, back to the frosting.

The recipe I used is adapted from this one; I halved the portion (and still had leftover after generously frosting 12 cupcakes) and used palm sugar in place of brown sugar. Actually to be completely honest, I only had a little palm sugar left so I topped it off with dark brown sugar. -.-



The result was sinfully rich and buttery toffee. I added a bit of salt as well since I used unsalted butter, and a dash of instant coffee powder for the extra depth. And it was absolutely divine, even if I do say so myself. I resisted the urge to just retire to the couch, bowl of frosting in hand, and eat my way to sugar ecstasy.

Palm sugar frosting = HELL SUCCESS


And here's the final product:



Next attempt: Souffle cupcakes!


xx
Hsin

Hsin can (still) cook

Coming home from work one day, we noticed these 2 strange birds loitering about outside our lawn:


Hello, neighbours.


What are they? They look like a cross between a pelican and a stork.

...

On other news, I am still cooking! Not as gungho as I used to be, which is a bit strange seeing as that I have my own kitchen to meddle with now compared to back then. But once in a while, I launch into my experimenting mode and more often than not, end up pretty successful. And then I'll keep on making the same couple of things over and over again until I get sick of it and look for something new to work on.

Recent efforts include Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Berry Coulis (either blueberries or raspberries, but I discovered that the latter pairs up a lot better with vanilla), Baked Eggs with Spinach and Bacon (great way to make Mitch eat spinach), and one of my current favourites: Chinese-style steamed egg.


Also the only one with an accessible pic.


I am not equipped to do any steaming, so I cook them as I would a creme caramel; i.e. covered with foil and baked in a water bath at about 180 degrees.

The result? Silky smooth savoury egg custard with shiitake mushrooms, mildly flavoured by stock, white pepper and sesame oil. Simple indulgence on a cold, rainy day. :)


xx
Hsin

Banana & Mangoes

Phone camera photography 101:

Do not expect photos to turn out great. In fact, don't even expect photos to turn out moderately decent in quality unless you have one of those fancy schmancy camera phones (I was told Sony Ericsson does good piccies).

What it does, however, is capture the moment through grainy shots because you don't happen to have a more superior instrument with you; or in my case, failed to charge the battery ahead of time. -.-

Not my fault entirely. I didn't expect to be sightseeing in Carnarvon. In fact the only reason we did really was because the job went a lot smoother than anticipated, and we ended up with 5 odd hours to kill while waiting for our flight home.


Our plane.

Note to Diana (and Danson, when he eventually reads this): The flight to Carnarvon was only a fraction of the hell we went through the last time. I only felt sick for a little while, which was a vast improvement . ^^ And the flight home was surprisingly smooth, although I did take precautions to not stuff myself with big breakfast prior to take off. :P

Anyway like I said, sightseeing wasn't part of the plan, so we weren't equipped with maps or GPS or information. After killing as much time as we possibly could on lunch and window shopping, we only managed to pass like an hour tops. T.T Clearly there wasn't much to eat and window-shop for.

So fine, we set off to hunt for attractions and photo opportunities, driving as slow as road courtesy allows us to, and here are some pics to document our efforts:



The pretty coastal side of Carnarvon



Someone once told me that the Aboriginese believe that the trees are 'bowing' to a greater spirit.



Best mango smoothie, ever. And possibly the best battered scallop too.

Scallop was "Chinese Restaurant Grade", i.e. fat and juicy morsels which are so fresh that you could peel it off strand by strand. Not the tiny battered-heavy ones you get at most chippies over here. I'd almost forgotten the real taste and wholesome flavour of scallops until 2 days ago. And I was happy that Mitch had a scallop education himself - I could see it in his face, even though all he did was nod and half-shrugged.



Here in Carnarvon, they are extremely proud of their people's achievements.

And I say that with no hint of cynicism; I honestly think we could do with a bit more community spirit in our lives sometimes. :)


We also set out to hunt for the hilariously named (and for some reason, terribly elusive) 'Chinaman Pool'. I think we both had our own lame and possibly-racist imaginings of what this pool could be. And we figured that maybe at the very least we would find some mini museum or something to kill some time with.




Unfortunately, we were quite wrong.



It was a river bed. Mitchy wanted to go walk along the plains but I wasn't too keen. The hot weather was a huge factor; that and I didn't want to encounter any snakes or biting creatures that may be living in those bushes. -.-

So we moved on, disappointed that it was not in fact a Chinaman-shaped pool.


Google image search result for 'man-shaped pool'


Next we came across what was possibly our most interesting discovery of them all: The Carnarvon Heritage Trail!

Dotted with steam-powered trains and tractors from simpler days, it also housed the One Mile jetty, the beach and an observation tower which sufficed my photographic needs. And with that, I leave you with a couple more scenic shots of Bananacity. Taa.
















xx
Hsin