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.