Weis Restaurant for Seafood Buffet

Weis Restaurant
http://www.weis-restaurant.com/



When I mention I have a food blog and that I live in Toowoomba, the first question on most people's lips is 'have you been to Weis Restaurant?' I suppose it's the only restaurant of any fame in Toowoomba... but up until last week, my answer was sadly 'no'.



Amusingly, I was going to go to Weis on my birthday back in March this year but decided it was too dear. How I ended up going last Friday was: we tried to go to Sizzlers (yes, I do want to go to Sizzlers at times, don't flame me please) but the queue was too long so we went to Weis instead. Basically a similar fling but more upmarket.

MOS Burger

MOS Burger
Shop 34, Sunnybank Plaza, Sunnybank



I've been itching to go to Mos Burger since it first popped up on Urbanspoon. The idea an Asian-themed burger shop sounded pretty good to me. Also, I noticed that Mos Burger remained in the 'Talk of the Town' list week after week so I figured if everyone else is talkin' bout this joint, so should I.

What does MOS mean? It stands for Mountain, Ocean, Sun. What does that have to do with burgers? Not a clue.



Nevertheless, it took me a while to get around to it because too many other restaurants got in the way and I only have one belly that I'm not keen to expand too much.

Engine Room Cafe for Breakfast

Engine Room Cafe
http://www.engineroomcafe.com.au/



I had a precious and much appreciated Saturday morning off work last weekend. We were thinking about making a breakfast feast at home but without eggs, there weren't many options. Eggs are the life force of a good breakfast!



Never fear, there's always the option of going out. I wanted to try Engine Room Cafe because (and pardon me if this seams like a ridiculous reason) I'd seen people Check-In to it on Facebook and people seldom check in to places that aren't good.

Coffee and Walnut Cupcakes with White Chocolate Ganache

Coffee and Walnut Cupcakes with White Chocolate Ganache
Home Cooking



On Monday, our clinic organized a Cupcake Day to raise money for the RSPCA. I was at a loss as to what type to bake when Mochi suggested coffee and walnut. Ignoring the host of baking/cupcake cookbooks I have, I found it easier to just Google 'coffee and walnut cupcakes'. This is the recipe I followed. Apparently 12 cupcakes are supposed to result but I only managed 8. Maybe my cupcake paper holders are huge.

Rather than using the mascarpone frosting, I made a white chocolate ganache. This was partly because I was baking them the night before and thought that mascarpone might go manky. The other reason was I simply didn't have mascarpone at home but I had plenty of white chocolate.

In a frenzy of inspiration, I also made an impromptu wanut praline to use as decoration.

Meat Lovin' at Cha Cha Char

Cha Cha Char Wine Bar and Grill
http://www.chachachar.com.au/



After breaking his wagyu seal at Grossi Florentino a couple of months ago, Byron started to believe that I knew what I was talking about when it came to steak. Prior to that, he was convinced that there's no point in ordering steak from a restaurant because the taste was completely dependent on the produce and there's nothing done to it that you can't do at home.



There is some truth to that but from what I can see, there are some cuts of meat that only good restaurants seem to have access to. Aside from that, I'm sure they can do the meat more justice than my little electric stove top at home.

Pasta Primavera with Poached Chicken

Pasta Primavera with Poached Chicken Home Cooking



I go through cycles of thinking it's time to 'healtify' my diet. There's something about these couple of weeks that's made me mad over veggies and fruit. I just can't get enough! Last week grocery shopping I stockpiled a whole trolley's worth and could barely fit everything in my tiny fridge.

The challenge was to transform said vegetables into something that Byron would actually eat. Keeping it vegetarian was thus out of the question. I came up with the solution of stirring a whole heap of greens together with pasta and chicken in a light creamy sauce. This kind of dish is hearty enough to satisfy most men but it's loaded with veggies and the sauce is only as bad as you want it to be.

Avant Garde Patisserie

Avant Garde Patisserie
http://avantgardepatisserie.com.au/



After our morning of cooking and subsequently, feasting on Thai food from My Thai Kitchen, Mochi and I finished in the only way our sweet tooths allowed. We had about 2 hours to kill before an afternoon of rainforest spa indulgence in Indooroopilly so we made a cake stop.

Avant Garde Patisserie was conveniently located a few doors down from where we started searching so in we hopped.



Instantly, we were drawn to the pastry cabinet where our eyes met a sweet display of cakes, tarts and slices. Decisions decisions. This was surely the hardest part.

Peking Duck Rice Paper Rolls

Peking Duck Rice Paper Rolls
Home Cooking



I had never really cooked with duck before but I was pretty excited to break the seal with the duck breasts I received from Game Farm. After considering and tossing many recipes from my vast collection of cookbooks, I went with a recipe on the Game Farm website for "Duck and Shitake fresh spring rolls".



I modified the recipe a bit but the general idea is there. As always with things like wraps, rolls etc, the components can be anything you like.

Cooking up a storm at My Thai Kitchen

My Thai Kitchen - Mild and Tasty Cooking Class
http://www.mythai.com.au/cooking_school.html



Mochi and I had an indulgent Girl's Day Out yesterday in Brisbane. We had been planning this since forever and to say I was excited is a major understatement! If ever there was a reason not to sleep in on a Sunday, a Thai cooking glass with your favorite food-loving girlfriend, followed by cake, massage, spa and champagne would be it.

Maxim Chinese and Vietnamese Restaurant

Maxim Chinese and Vietnamese Restaurant
19 Darra Station Road, Darra



I write this post apprehensively because I don't know if this is even what the restaurant is called. On grandad's suggestion, we all trekked to Darra last Saturday. Dad approached from East Brisbane and the rest of us arrived in a two car convoy from Toowoomba. All I knew was the address: 19 Darra Station Road.



The rest of the information was based on what I could piece together from the photos I took. I found a sign saying "Maxim Restaurant" and a menu saying "Chinese and Vietnamese Restaurant". Fingers crossed that this is correct.

Jamie Oliver's Polenta-crusted Chicken with Sweetcorn Mash and Tomato Relish

Jamie Oliver's Polenta-crusted Chicken
Home Cooking



I haven't had much motivation to cook recently, as you've probably deduced by the decrease in cooking posts. Last week, something happened that turned this all around and I've been involved in something close to a cooking marathon.

A huge delivery arrived for me containing beautiful poultry from Game Farm. Game Farm is the largest multi-species bird producer in the Southern Hemisphere and supplies wholesalers, supermarkets, specialty butchers and many top restaurants all around Australia. I was lucky enough to be given a huge range to try and spent all last week researching recipes.

Regional Flavours Food Festival at Southbank

Regional Flavours 2011

I recently started a Twitter account and I admit, I'm still having difficulty working out what to 'do'. One good thing that has already come out of this is I found out about Regional Flavours through Twitter.



How could I otherwise not know about a food festival in Brisbane? I don't know. I must be very out of the loop. Thank goodness for Twitter then.