Chicken Stroganoff with Pasta

Chicken Stroganoff with Pasta
Home Cooking



I went through a big strog phase when I first discovered it a month ago. Sour cream sauce with beef. In Winter. How can you go wrong?

I also made a chicken strog but didn't post it at the time because I like to avoid repetition and keep things interesting. The idea is have my readers think I'm out exploring amazing recipes and restaurants every day. Truth is I'll find something I like and fall into a repetitive rut.



I made up this chicken strog recipe but it was largely inspired by this from the Masterchef website. It's so easy to do. Think of it as fast food.

Bamboo Basket

Bamboo Basket
189 Grey St, South Brisbane



I remember walking past Bamboo Basket some several months ago and thinking 'I have to try this place'. I was sucked in by the decor. The restaurant looked so invitingly red! I didn't even inspect the menu or anything... it was automatically appealing.

As time went on, I heard this place mentioned via various sources: friends, internet and etc. Just as my interest was gaining momentum, Kat told me she just went to this 'mad Chinese restaurant in Southbank' and when I asked her what it was, she told me Bamboo Basket.



That settled it. I had to go. Kat was more than willing to oblige my request so we set a date.

Caramelized Pork Belly with Saffron Rice

Caramelized Pork Belly with Saffron Rice
Home Cooking



Red cooked meat is one of my favorite Chinese dishes. I tried to make it once before and it was OK but not amazing. That was over a year ago and recently, I've been feeling dismay over my inability to cook traditional Chinese food. In actual fact, my inability to cook spans indiscriminately over every type of cuisine but it's Chinese food that really bugs me because it's like I've kicked away some cultural heritage? Food heritage is the best kind of heritage.

Big Gun Chinese Restaurant

Big Gun Chinese Restaurant
Shop 7/2922 Logan Rd, Underwood



I've been trying to introduce Byron into developing an appreciation of eating out. He's one of 'those' (and there are many of 'those' out there) who have an ingrained state of mind deterring them from restaurants because nothing is as good as home-cooked. And look, that's fair enough if you are blessed with an ability to cook nice food. Hats off. But all the same, I'm quite partial to dining out for the reasons of: experience, environment, stuff you can't make at home and just having something to look forward to.



My game plan was to go to restaurants serving cuisine that we couldn't readily toss together in his kitchen. Asian food was an obvious choice because of all the ingredients/condiments required.

Tuna and Corn Dip with Pita Chips

Tuna and Corn Dip with Pita Chips
Home Cooking



A long while back I spotted this post on Closet Cooking for Buffalo Wing Dip. Without knowing/tasting buffalo wings (I presume it's an American thing), I was still majorly attracted to the recipe because of it's generous use of sour cream, mayo and cheese. Mmm... to all the above.

It took me this long to decide to replicate it because I couldn't justify making something so unhealthy for myself and I didn't have any party occasions to cater for. To compromise, I've replaced the chicken with tuna and corn. The rationale is that tuna is basically a health food, right? And corn is a vegetable. So... provided I use light sour cream, this dip can't be TOO bad.


I did cave a little and use a dollop of whole egg mayo but we have to live a little.

To be honest I did have my doubts about how this would work out. Baked tuna things either turn out nice or vomit-inducing (due to an unappetizing visual resemblance to vomit) so it was a gamble. Luckily, it was really tasty. This is also such an easy-to-follow recipe that it hardly warrants being called a 'recipe'.

Shangpaign Kitchen

Shangpaign Kitchen
Shop 24 Pineland Plaza, 647 Beenleigh Rd, Sunnybank Hills



These last couple of weeks, Thursday night has been 'mum' night. That means a girls dinner with me and my mother. We're trying to make a tradition out of it.



Last Thursday, we decided to try this new place in Sunnybank Hills. Shangpaign (I think it's meant to be a pun on champagne? Or maybe not?) Kitchen serves Shanghainese cuisine. There's not much in the way of good, authentic Shanghainese food in Brisbane so whilst we wanted to give it a go, we didn't have our hopes up.

Orange and Poppy Seed Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Orange and Poppy Seed Cake
Home Cooking



Three things that have happened since uni started:

1. I realized how important sleep is
2. I decided I hate public transport
3. I have no time to do anything, including blogging

This is why my post frequency has diminished greatly. A good thing that's come out of my week of placement is that one of my supervisors brought in a beautiful cake he'd made.



It was an orange and poppy seed cake, which is not something I've really been into in the past. That is, until I had a taste of this one. It was delicious! Moist, subtly orange with this awesome textural element provided by the poppy seeds. Oh... plus cream cheese icing which I love so much you could probably smear it over plaster and I'd still enjoy.

Kafe Meze

Kafe Meze
www.kafemeze.com.au



Now that I don't go to uni in the city, I only go there to transfer buses. An exception was sometime last week where I tried to organize a change of name certificate. Why? Long story short, I need to get a new passport because I'm going to Shanghai in September. I have a current, unexpired Australian passport but for reasons unbeknown to myself, this is insufficient proof of who I am. Or something. So I need more paperwork. This kind of admin BS makes my blood boil but in the words of my mum's boss 'People out there just need to make their existence justified'.

While I was in the city, I thought I'd make a vacation out of it so my friend Hien and I decided to grab lunch nearby. I suggested West End and used the time I spent waiting in the Births, Deaths and Marriages queue to Google inspirations for where I wanted to eat. I was leaning towards Greek and tossing up between Lefkas and the Little Greek Taverna.



When Hien picked me up, he stated that he already had a place in mind and would refuse any other suggestion. That outcome didn't even occur to me. I have this selfish expectation that my food destination is purely a product of my own choosing. In any case, his pick was Kafe Meze, which is also Greek so we were happy all round.

Beef Massaman Curry

Beef Massaman Curry
Home Cooking



I've been trying to use my slow cooker as much as possible since it's Winter now and well, what better opportunity will I have? Since I bought my machine, I've been wanting to try beef massaman. It was one of my favorite menu picks from Thai Orchid Square. I know a bit about Indian curry but nothing about Thai curry. There's green and red? Jungle curry? Panang curry?



Whatever... I find that it's all just a name. If you go to 2 different Thai (or Indian) restaurants and order curries with the same name, they tend to taste quite different anyway.

K and K Austrian Coffee House and Bakery

K and K Austrian Coffee House and Bakery
http://www.kandk.com.au/



I heard about this place from a couple of friends and when I lived in Mount Ommaney, it was just around the corner. Of course it makes perfect sense (sarcasm, guys) that I choose to go once I've moved to the other end of Brisbane.

Winter Porridge

Winter Porridge
Home Cooking



The idea of porridge might sound boring to some but at the moment, I'm absolutely obsessed. The term was first brought to my attention recently by Mochi, when we went out for breakfast at Piaf. She asked for porridge and they had none. At the time, I thought 'porridge? Hmm?'

It sounds bland, yeh? But don't you think that sometimes, bland things just sound really appealing? I had an image in my head of wood choppers spooning large bowls of steaming gloop in the heart of winter and decided I would very much like some of that.

When I went to Cirque, I rejected many fine breakfast options in favor of getting porridge. It was nothing like what I expected. Rather than rustic and bland, it was creamy, refined and decadent. I don't know if that's a representation of 'true' porridge but what the heck, this post is about MY version.


I went through a phase in early winter where every morning, I made a bowl of oats for breakfast. It became rather methodical: oats cooked the traditional way, in a saucepan, with milk and a drizzle of golden treacle at the end.

Au Cirque Cafe

Au Cirque Cafe
618 Brunswick St, New Farm



Woo! Another breakfast post. I've had a happy week.

I was going to go to Planet Matterz in Wynnum (recommended by Mochi) but saw they had no sweet breakfast item on their menu. Google provided me with some alternatives and I thought I'd see what I felt like in the morning to determine where to go. When I woke up, I needed sweet so we decided to go to Cirque, a cafe with an esteemed reputation for breakfast.

New Farm street art

It was quite a journey to get there. I'm the process of learning how to drive so whilst I can get around alright, changing lanes and parking are 2 skills that I currently do not possess. We unfortunately were on the wrong lane heading inbound and missed the Valley, ending up somewhere past the RBH. After a strenuous U-turn, the same thing happened on the way back and suddenly, we were on the wrong side of the river again.

Nigella's Scones

Nigella's Scones
Home Cooking



I hadn't baked anything in a while. It's not a great feeling because I find delight in baking. To break my baking drought, I decided on something really easy to get the skills in check.

Scones are not new to this blog. I should probably have a special category just for scones. Oh wait, I do :D.

Vegetable shortening

The recipe I went for is from Nigella Lawson's "How to be a Domestic Goddess". It is one of my favorite cookbooks and trust me, I own a lot. Her recipe is titled 'Lilly's scones' and I chose it because of its use of vegetable shortening. For some reason, I had vegetable shortening in the fridge, completely unopened so I thought 'Yes! Finally I can use it for something'.

I made the full quantity of scones so the recipe is exact from the book.

Roman Empire Revisited

Roman Empire Bar Restaurant
http://www.theromanempire.com.au/

This photo isn't relevant but I didn't have anything else to put here

I've blogged the Roman Empire before but it was so long ago that I don't feel like I'm repeating myself. Since I moved back to the East side, Kat and I are practically neighbors. We're constantly sussing out good local cafes, restaurants and bars to maintain our weekly gossip sessions.

We were cold and miserable last Saturday, thinking of somewhere to have dinner. Kat's car is playing up so I suggested stopping at the Metropol and deciding from there. We spotted Roman Empire and at first, she said she wasn't in the mood for pasta but then remembered they had a delicious gnocchi so we both agreed to go.

Because we hadn't made reservations, we were given the option of either sitting inside but having to leave before 7:30pm (in an hour and a half) or sitting outside for as long as we wanted. Yes, it was absolutely freezing but we were both agreed that you can't have a good meal or chat whilst rushed. We chose to brave the cold in favor of being able to yap the night way indefinitely.

Sunday Roast Chicken

Sunday Roast Chicken
Home Cooking



Due to circumstances that I couldn't avoid, I bought an issue of the MasterChef Magazine. I'm embarrassed to admit that not because I think MasterChef is for losers (if so, I need to get a capital 'L' tattooed to my forehead) but because I've had a hard time avoiding MasterChef references in these recent posts. Everything I eat seems to have some kind of a MasterChef influence. I was really keen to prove to you readers that I have a personality and free will but surely, owning the magazine does nothing to help my cause.



It so happens that the magazine influenced my decision to have roast chicken only in a loose and roundabout way. I spotted a recipe in the magazine: it was Maggie Beer's lemon, olive and chicken pie with sour cream pastry. I thought it sounded amazing and instructed Byron that this is what we would be making on Sunday. He went along with it for a while, until the actual day when he decided it sounded too weird and that we should make a normal chicken and mushroom pie instead. This idea then got simplified to a plain roast chicken. I have NEVER had a home-roast chicken before (only the supermarket variety for me) so I jumped on that suggestion.

Piaf at Southbank

Piaf
Shop 5, 182 Grey St, South Brisbane



If I was allowed a wish list, 'ability to sleep in whenever I choose to' would be somewhere at the top. I complain HEAPS about having to wake up early. Usually, it's uni that's the main culprit. Sometimes it's work or just the sun blaring in through the window, right onto my face. However, I have to admit to this one time last week where waking up early was 100% voluntary.



Mochi and I are good for sharing new food interests (hey, what are friends for?) and when she told me about Ben O'Donoghue's new restaurant called Southbank Surf Club, I was right on it. We were planning to go for breakfast. I LOVE breakfast. If there is anything that's going to motivate me to set a 6:30am alarm, the thought of toast, eggs, waffles and pancakes etc will definitely do the trick.

I got up before the sun came up and as a result, managed to be early. After scouting around Southbank, daydreaming about the coffee I planned to order, I realized that most cafes weren't open yet. I found Southbank Surf Club and yep, it was deadsville.