BBQ Breakfast

Today we feasted on a wonderful BBQ breakfast, which we cooked on our new BBQ.
We BBQd sausages, bacon, eggs, tomato, mushrooms and even bread!

First of all we sizzled the sausages. We cooked them for about two minutes until we put the bacon on. Once the bacon was almost ready I started BBQing the toast. This is much trickier than it sounds. It is very difficult to make sure that the bread browned equally on both sides, and to stop it burning in one place and not in another.

After every component was cooked to perfection it was time to plate up... well, it could have been worse. I mean, just cos it looks like a bomb has gone of on a plate, it doesn't... think of all the children in Africa who are starving, they'd be happy, huh? Don't look a me like that? Who do you think you are, judging me? Okaaay. But it still tasted good.

MMMMM Delicious

   
 See you next time friends!
 

Burke street Bakery

The latest cafe in what is proving to be an illustrious mix is Burke st Bakery, famous for it's pies, sausage rolls and an impressive array of tartlets and freshly baked bread.

Burke st Bakery is a regular stoppoff for my family, and we have sampled almost everything that is on sale, from exquisite pork and fennel sausage rolls to a not so spectacular Chorizo bread.

Today we chose the pork and fennel sausauge roll for me and mum, a beef pie for my brother and a raspberry and sour cream bred for dad.

The sausage roll was "incredible"(mum)
The pie "to diiie for" (ollie) and the roll "pretty good (nod nod)(dad).

A very successful cafe outing don't you think?

BTW, I have entered a profile. Thanks for reading

Camp food

I have been inactive over the last few weeks beacause of my school camp in Canberra.
My experience on camp was wonderful.

All my friends were in a cabin with me,we went skiing,shopping,sightseeing,and basically
having a good time on every front.
Exept... one.
The food was terrible.

Day one.
Dinner was first up.
'Chicken' schnitzel or vegetable lasagna.
The schnitzel resembled a rock. The only good part were the chips.
For desert there was cheap ice-cream cups.

Day 2
Breakfast was either hash browns and deep fried bacon or cereal.
I will have pics soon but first I must by a card reader because at the moment I can't get the photos off the camera.
For lunch we made our own sandwiches from ham, 'chicken', lettuce,tomato or jams, honey and vegemite sachets. The bread was cheap and disgusting.
For dinner was a comparatably edible fish n chips.

Day three
Breakfast was sausages and cereal. The sausages were cheap and horrible.
On the bus trip back I had a breif respite when I bought a coke.
Back in Sydney I was welcomed with a big hug and a steaming hot bowl of hot and sour dumpling soup. Boy was I grateful for it.

Ps I will follow up with two entries in quick succession as I'm a little behind.

Allpress cafe, Rosebery

Sorry about not posting for a few days, I have been busy!
As I said in my last post my family has a very old, decrepit car that barely works, so me, my dad and my brother hopped in our very old, decrepit car that barely works to find a second hand replacement.

We headed up to Sutton City Subaru to start, and basically we spent two hours standing around wondering why my dad has so much against the buying the perfect car for us. The only good thing was, afterward we got to go to Allpress cafe, in Rosebery.

Allpress cafe is in an unusual location, just off a very boring part of Botany Rd. But, the food and coffee easily makes up for the location problem. The atmosphere is great, the food wonderful and there are very interesting places to sit, including a strange, secluded circle of glass and wood that is impossible to describe unless you see it with your own eyes. there is also a large portion of the property devoted to coffee roasting. Talking about coffee, the coffee was the absolute star. As my dad Keith (http://www.keithsaundersphotography.com/) said, the coffee, an extra strong flat white was strong, rich, delicious and served at the perfect temperature. We took some photos, but unfortunately the waitress informed us that the pictures could not go online. they weren't very good pictures anyway.    

My Review: 
The coffee was incredible, the almond croissant almost perfect, and the pain au raisin was exquisite. The plain croissant was very good, although not up to the rest of the food's standard. All in all, I would recommend this THE destination in Rosebery for coffee and snacks. (luckily, Burke St Bakery is just over the border in Mascot)
Food: 9/10
Ambiance: 8/10
Service: 8/10
Value 8/10

Surry Hills

Today I went to Surry Hills to have my hair cut. My family has our hair cut by my Dad's Iraqi barber. After our haircuts were finished, we headed up the road to Taste, one of the best cafes in Surry Hills, only to have the door slammed in our faces.
Getting more and more hungry by the minute, my Dad, my brother and I hopped in our bucket-of-bolts car and headed around the corner to Dinky-Di pies.
Now ol' Dinky n' me go waaay back. When my family first arrived in Australia from England, we stayed in Camp cove for two weeks. We would drive around the eastern suburbs of Sydney looking for a place to rent. And, more often than not, we would stop at Dinky-Di pies on the way back.
Now, this was at the original shop, not the chains that are all over Sydney. We would eat delicious pies and go home with our stomachs pushing at the waistbands of our trousers. That is why we stopped of at Dinky-Di's place, for the sake of memories. Ah yes, and good food.
 This is what we ordered... enjoy drooling!

Sausage roll

 Carrot Cake
    

Almond Croissant 

Chicken and mushroom pie

These were so good that we couldn't wait for the photograph to be taken before tucking in!

Our Asian Style Stir Fry

Tonight's dinner was a lovely Asian style pork belly stir fry. We marinated the pork in a mixture of dark soy sauce, honey and sweet chili sauce.

We let it rest in the marinade for about five minutes, then fried it in our wok at a very high temperature. The hot oil spat everywhere when we added the pork, and the sides of the wok misted up.

When the pork was cooked, we started work on the vegetables. We chopped up onion, carrot, capsicum and mushrooms, then fried them up in the marinade left over from the pork.

When the onion was soft and the carrots no longer crunchy, we added the pork and the noodles.

We gave it a stir and poured some more marinade over the top, then generously spooned it out.

 

美味 (delicious)

Chicken, Chorizo and Prawn Paella

This is my favorite dish to cook. The recipe is originally Anna Gare's, and it is in the Junior MasterChef official recipe collection.
This dish is my main introduction into cooking.
The first time I made this dish was around February this year, and it was an instant success with my family. I cook for two food obsessed families, and this is a delicious and easy dish to make in large portions.
It can be twisted and changed any way you like by adding more chili or less chili, smokey paprika, normal paprika, more chicken, a bit of pork belly, whatever you like. I love this dish heavily laden with chili, lots of chorizo and the rice well cooked, but not soggy.
For me, the prawns must be added at the same time as the mussels or they will be overcooked and horrible.
If you don't like seafood then that's fine, just don't add any. This is guaranteed to be one of the best paellas you will ever have.

My Adriano Zumbo Adventure

A few weeks ago, I went to Adriano Zumbo's hide out in Balmain. We were queuing for ages before we finally got to the front.

They have this amazing system where you write your order on a mini white board of some sort half way through.

I have to say that what we got was not quite what i was expecting as he had put a twist on everything. i ordered a pain au raisin (raisin snail). The texture was completely unexpected. It wasn't crisp like a Croissant, but more cake-like. Dense. As if it hadn't risen. Weird, but delicious.

Meanwhile, the Macarons... i don't even have to explain. Sooooo yummy

The dish that really blew my mind was a chocolate cake thingy with a bit of gold leaf on top. it had subtle sponge texture that counteracted the strong chocolate flavours.

This is the most amazing dessert I have eaten to date.