Seeing I'm sometimes found in chinese grocery stores and -considering there's tons of the bloody things around, you're bound to find something that'll make you go "what the hell?", I figure I'd make a not-too-regular contribution to Om Nom Nommer entitled "Bowl Of Oddities". Half "Steve! Don't Eat It!", half "world of instruments" segment from 'John Safran's Music Jamboree', and a dash of..... whatever else I can contribute to this winning combination to taste.
To kick this off, thought I'd touch on something new I found while spending time down in Wollongong: Black Sesame Soy Drink.
I really don't know what attracted me to it. Maybe it was the Robert Smith inspired black tetra pack, maybe it was the naive idea in my head that it'd taste like chocolate So Good that I down by the litre (hence, why its place in our house is as rare as hens teeth), but to cut a prose on spending maybe five minutes in an asian grocery store, I ended up buying it.
First off, the drink gets bonus points purely 'cause it has those nifty little 'lightsaber' extendable straws that I remember finding awesome back when I was around 7 years old.... What? Stop judging me. I lived in the freakin' sticks, man!
The taste was.... well, pretty much what one expects from Soy Milk. except less of that nutty aftertaste that killed the notion of drinking it in coffee for me back when I woke up retarded one day and thought I'd try being a vegan (suffice to say, it didn't last. It was a month before I got tired of those pointless Soy sausage things and switched back to normal food).
I guess I can recommend it if you're looking for something different. Possibly not for using in coffee though. That's what Bailey's Irish Cream is for.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Truffles Restaurant, Bowral NSW
It's tough to pick what you want to eat with a group. Especially when you get that craving for pancakes, yet your housemate won't shut the hell up and deal with it thus denying your fluffy goodness topped with icecream and blueberry compote.
While out with friends of ours, we came upon a little-known restaurant near Sophie's Books in Bowral known as "Truffles". Enticed by the thought of having a drink thrown in with the meal (a rare commodity these days outside of Lions Club sausage sizzles and places with the prefix "Mc"), we all agreed that this was our place of choice.
The place looked rather inviting, and we were served pretty quickly to begin with. The menus had plenty of choices as well, which is always good.
This, sadly, is where most of the good points about the place ends. While forgivable to a point because the waiter was also doubling as the cook, the service wasn't brilliant and neither was the food. While I apparently got away lightly with my rather average Open/Mixed Grill, the housemates and our friends had a few *ahem* colourful things to say about it ranging from "the steak was a bit tough" to "the mushrooms were foul".
I'll give Truffles Restaurant this: It has potential. It could very well be among some of Om Nom Nommer's top picks such as Cafe Rosso and Gilbert's Cafe, but it'll take a bit more than a free drink for me to mark it as such.
Like the Spur Steak Ranch, I'd be happy to give this place a second chance. But like anything, first impressions are usually the ones that stick and frankly, we weren't impressed.
While out with friends of ours, we came upon a little-known restaurant near Sophie's Books in Bowral known as "Truffles". Enticed by the thought of having a drink thrown in with the meal (a rare commodity these days outside of Lions Club sausage sizzles and places with the prefix "Mc"), we all agreed that this was our place of choice.
The place looked rather inviting, and we were served pretty quickly to begin with. The menus had plenty of choices as well, which is always good.
This, sadly, is where most of the good points about the place ends. While forgivable to a point because the waiter was also doubling as the cook, the service wasn't brilliant and neither was the food. While I apparently got away lightly with my rather average Open/Mixed Grill, the housemates and our friends had a few *ahem* colourful things to say about it ranging from "the steak was a bit tough" to "the mushrooms were foul".
I'll give Truffles Restaurant this: It has potential. It could very well be among some of Om Nom Nommer's top picks such as Cafe Rosso and Gilbert's Cafe, but it'll take a bit more than a free drink for me to mark it as such.
Like the Spur Steak Ranch, I'd be happy to give this place a second chance. But like anything, first impressions are usually the ones that stick and frankly, we weren't impressed.
Banoffee Pie and the Naked Chef
Mmmmm, Banoffee Pie. Banana, dulce de leche and coffee infused whipped cream. It may be a mess in a sweetcrust, but it's a delicious mess.
I decided to try out Jamie Oliver's recipe for sweet short pastry, instead of the Roux variant recipe I normally use. After all, Jamie promised it was "Perfect" sweet pastry. Well, I'm here to tell you; Jamie lies.
Not to say that recipe was revolting. It just couldn't hold a candle to the Roux Brothers. Jamie Oliver is a very good chef, but if it's pastry you're after, go to an expert. To clarify, Jamie's pastry is VERY biscuity, which is nice in a biscuit.... but I like my pastry to be vaguely pastrylike. Also, Jamie's recipe uses lemon zest, which would be a nice touch, if the flavour of lemon zest didn't overpower everything.
The pastry itself was also very floury and crumbly (even though I didn't use all the flour he called for), and because of this, I could only get a thick pastry, which didn't help the biscuit factor. All in all, I really cannot recommend the recipe.... but if you want to try it anyway, it's in "Jamie's Kitchen".
Anyway, as you may have guessed in the first paragraph, I used Jamie's pastry as the base of a banoffee pie. It was delicious. And rich. There are plenty of recipes for making it on the internet, but once you have your crust, the rest is very easy to assemble. The toffee is made by boiling condensed milk in the can for four hours, and sliced bananas are sliced bananas. Make sure to add some coffee to the cream as you whip it (if you have a little black coffee from a plunger or espresso machine, even better) to taste. Even if you don't like coffee very much, do try a bit, I felt that the coffee flavour cut through some of the rich sweetness of the toffee and banana.
And of course, a picture of my pie. I sprinkled some leftover Lindt drinking chocolate in top, but you could add whatever you fancy, like almonds, powdered chocolate or coffee, or some banana slices.
I decided to try out Jamie Oliver's recipe for sweet short pastry, instead of the Roux variant recipe I normally use. After all, Jamie promised it was "Perfect" sweet pastry. Well, I'm here to tell you; Jamie lies.
Not to say that recipe was revolting. It just couldn't hold a candle to the Roux Brothers. Jamie Oliver is a very good chef, but if it's pastry you're after, go to an expert. To clarify, Jamie's pastry is VERY biscuity, which is nice in a biscuit.... but I like my pastry to be vaguely pastrylike. Also, Jamie's recipe uses lemon zest, which would be a nice touch, if the flavour of lemon zest didn't overpower everything.
The pastry itself was also very floury and crumbly (even though I didn't use all the flour he called for), and because of this, I could only get a thick pastry, which didn't help the biscuit factor. All in all, I really cannot recommend the recipe.... but if you want to try it anyway, it's in "Jamie's Kitchen".
Anyway, as you may have guessed in the first paragraph, I used Jamie's pastry as the base of a banoffee pie. It was delicious. And rich. There are plenty of recipes for making it on the internet, but once you have your crust, the rest is very easy to assemble. The toffee is made by boiling condensed milk in the can for four hours, and sliced bananas are sliced bananas. Make sure to add some coffee to the cream as you whip it (if you have a little black coffee from a plunger or espresso machine, even better) to taste. Even if you don't like coffee very much, do try a bit, I felt that the coffee flavour cut through some of the rich sweetness of the toffee and banana.
And of course, a picture of my pie. I sprinkled some leftover Lindt drinking chocolate in top, but you could add whatever you fancy, like almonds, powdered chocolate or coffee, or some banana slices.
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