Road trip to Northern NSW

Thanks to the Queen, we have an extra day of public holiday this year. To me, it was a much needed break as it was the end of my one week mid-semester break. I needed the time off from both work and studies to rest and recharge before I power on full-speed for another month till the end of the semester.

We decided to go for a drive down south to Northern New South Wales, where D grew up. It was fun listening to his childhood stories as if we were reliving it again.

Our first stop was at Kingscliff for lunch. We recharged on a scrumptious meal and then continued our journey down south.

The next stop was Ballina where we had booked a place to stay for the night. It was a peaceful and quiet coastal town.

The next morning, we headed west to Lismore and Casino where D spent most of his childhood years.  Finally, after taking a few pictures for keepsake, we commenced our journey back home.


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Chouquette

Whilst having a leisurely walk around New Farm we stumbled across Choquette. Though we had heard good reviews from friends, we had never tried it for ourselves.

There was not a lot of seating but the casual-eating layout allowed for communal eating with strangers along a bar type setup. It was about 12:30pm and the place was packed so we decided to take-away some of their delectable pastries.

After much consideration (indecisive us) we selected:

• Chocolate Tarte
• Pain au Raisins (Raisin Pastry)
• Pastry with apple filling

The Chocolate Tarte was very rich and chocolatey (as you'd expect) but was more gelatinous than we expected. It was still enjoyable but not the best chocolate tart we've ever eaten.

The raisin pastry was 'just ok' and perhaps slightly overcooked. We were a little disappointed as we fell in love with these things during our trip to Montreal.

 

The pastry with apple filling however was delicious and had just the right balance of light, crispy pastry and apple filling.

Having now tasted a few of the items on offer, I can understand why Choquette is so popular given the relatively limited pastry choices around town. Perhaps we will make our way back there again to try a few more...



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Pirate Cupcakes

Last Wednesday was the International Talk Like a Pirate Day. We had an event at work which included dressing up and talking like a pirate, as well as a cupcake fundraising.

I made some pirate cupcake toppers during last weekend in preparation for that. The tools used were:
a) Big scone cutter for the pirate face and hat
b) Edge of piping tip for the mouth
c) Tear drop cutter for the eye patch

With lots of fun and a bit of help from D, we managed to put together 15 little pirate faces.

The cupcakes were freshly made the night before using the Lemon Cupcake Recipe. I doubled the recipe and made about 30 cupcakes. The toppers were glued on the cupcakes using buttercream. The remaining cupcakes were decorated with piped buttercream rose.

The response was wonderful and all cupcakes were sold out on the day (including cupcakes made from my other colleagues)! Thanks to all who supported, we managed to raise a substantial amount of money for the cause :)


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Malt Dining

by D

Every time we start to think we know the restaurant scene in Brisbane, we turn another corner and stumble upon a new one.

We first heard of Malt from an overseas visitor who read about it in one of the tour guide books. Not wanting to miss a good meal we did our own research (96% of urbanspooners 'like it') and waited for an opportunity to celebrate something and try it out for ourselves.

The opportunity came along this week and we booked ourselves in for a Friday night dinner for two. Upon approach, the downstairs bar sounded a little noisy and we were not sure what to expect but all fears were soon put to rest as we were guided upstairs to the aptly named 'attic' where the restaurant resides. You could not hear a whisper from downstairs.

It was hard not to fall in love with this place as first sight - the setting was warm and cozy (mood lighting and old style brick walls) and the waitress exceedingly pleasant and cheerful. We ordered our meals and waited with anticipation.

Shortly after ordering, our waitress appeared with complimentary bread, accompanied by olive oil and balsamic. This is something we've grown to appreciate and (for what little it costs a restaurant) cannot understand why more restaurants do not do the same.

Our entrees soon arrived and the (cheerful) waitress took her time to run through the elements on the plate. We ordered:

- Pan Seared Hervey Bay Scallops, Cauliflower Beignet, Wild Rice Granola, Coriander ($20)
- Slow Cooked Quail Breast, Tart of Confit Quail & Caramelized Fire Roasted Onion, Jerusalem Artichoke Puree ($18)

The scallops were delicious and were without a doubt the sweetest tasting scallops we have ever eaten. Each element complimented the others well and made for an enjoyable well-rounded entree.

The quail was cooked well but like always (with quail) you just wish there was more of it. The tart was a surprise star of the dish and cooked wonderfully. Once again, everthing just worked.

The restaurant was starting to fill up at this stage but the food kept coming. Before too long the mains arrived:

- Seared Rack & Slow Cooked Shoulder of Lame, Aligot, Black Olive, Baby Vegetables ($37)

- Selection of Bangalow Sweet Pork, Carrot Puree, Coffee, Onion Rings & Pine Nuts ($36)

- Roasted Parsnip & Kipfler Potato with Chorizo (side dish) ($9)

Both mains were delicious and had contrasting textures to really bring out the best from each dish. We couldn't help but taste a little of each other's dish and we were both pleasantly suprised at just how well the coffee worked with the pork!

By the time we had finished the mains there was barely room for dessert but we just couldn't resist trying the "Malt Brownie" ($15) served with salted caramel, chocolate textures and peanut brittle. This was a magical dessert and even though the serving was quite generous, you couldn't help but want more. The caramel in particular was a standout and left you scraping away at the plate trying to get every last morsel.

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The Cube Hot Pot

The Cube Hot Pot is located in the car park area of Sunnybank Plaza. Though we find ourselves searching for food in the Sunnybank area quite often, we rarely stray this far, until just recently.

A friend introduced us to this place and we have been there a couple of times since. The funny thing was that in the two times we went there we were with the same group of people, sat at the same table and ordered the same dish. Needless to say, we really liked the soup.

There are other soups and dishes to order, but we defaulted to the Spicy Fish Soup ($45.80) because it was perfect for the cold weather and enough to feed a party of 4. The soup came with 1 kg of fish fillet, chilli oil and Sichuan peppercorns. As it was a hot pot style dining, it also came with a side dish of mushrooms, vermicelli, wombok, corn, tofu and seafood sticks.

Whilst the soup is spicy, you can customise the level of spiciness by selecting Mild, Medium or Hot when ordering. We have tried both mild and medium spiciness and I preferred the mild - mainly because the ‘medium’ had so much chilli oil that it formed a thick layer on top and made it hard to drink the soup. The mild soup was still hot (not for those that can’t take chilli) but yet very enjoyable.

With winter having come to a close we will have to find an excuse to go back and try some of their other soups.




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