Scone Bread and Doughnut French Toast

Scone Bread and Doughnut French Toast
Home Cooking



I'm a bit mad about scones. I've probably produced more batches of scones than anything else I've ever cooked. I devour these things religiously. I like plain. I like buttermilk. I like fruit scones and date scones. Actually, I LOVE date scones. I like pumpkin scones. I like savory scones. My heart skips a bit when I find new scones I've never tried before (blueberry? Spinach and feta?)

Honey drizzled on French toast

I buy scones from cafes, bakeries, chain grocery stores and private market stalls. Scones are one of the only things I can whip up without any recipe reference.

Sams On Edward Street

Sams On Edward Street
348 Edward St, Brisbane City (Corner Turbot St)



This is yet another of my regular lunch time spots. Part of the decision-making process as to where I should eat is how long I have and how far I want to walk. Sams is for those lazy days where I can't even fathom crossing a street for food. It's literally just a short stroll up from the dental school.



We nickname Sams Cafe as 'The revolving door cafe'. No prizes for guessing why. The cafe itself is on the ground floor of an office block (the IBM building, to be precise).

Sweet Beef Cashew Korma

Sweet Beef Cashew Korma
Home Cooking



Another lunch party. Another curry. I think I'm falling into a rut here. Hey, is it a crime to be curry-obsessed? In all fairness, I was tossing up between several other dishes including satay chicken or a meatball pasta. My curry fetish prevailed.

I had a few goals. Firstly, I modeled this dish after the korma I had (and loved) at Mint. Another objective was to get my slow-cooker out and running. I decided on a beef korma that was started the night before with flavors adjusted just prior to serving.

Slow cooker propped up on my study desk

This is my own creation but I did use a supermarket bought curry to form the base of the sauce. I suggest you try whatever label appeals to you but I used Patak's Cashew Masala. The korma from Mint was very sweet but in a distinct way (i.e. not just 'sugary') so I tried to duplicate that with a combination of condensed milk, honey, cream and coconut.

Six Degrees Take TWO

Six Degrees Take TWO
Shop 4/30 Station Rd, Indooroopilly



I've done a review on Six Degrees Cafe before but it's undergone some menu changes since then. It had been over a year since I last visited but a friend of mine decided to host her birthday dinner there (many birthdays this season) so I got to try the new stuff.



When I got there, most of the guests were already seated at a table so my friend and I (not the birthday girl, a different friend) were cast aside into a little booth.

Chewy Brownies

Chewy Brownies
Home Cooking



I dedicate this post to that precious time slot between around 12 midnight and 2am when your brain starts bombarding your stomach with relentless hunger signals. This is usually when I have 5 browser windows open, each with a different food blog, recipe or restaurant review and I flip through and perve on the food. Every 5 seconds, I'll change my mind about exactly what I'm craving at that moment.



I found this brownie recipe one night. Well, more accurately I saw a bunch of absolutely irresistible photos and clicked into the recipe. They just looked sooooooo sticky and decadent and glorious. Very, very convincing. I set aside one task-free Friday afternoon to do a bit of therapeutic baking.

Best Coffee in Brisbane's CBD

Brisbane City's Best Coffee



I feel cautious about writing this post. I enjoy eating out and taking amateur photos to share but I have no actual training/talent/skills in passing formal judgments on what I eat and drink. I like that my blog is a platform for expressing my thoughts but my thoughts tend not to surpass basic conclusions such as 'this tastes good' or 'I don't like that'. Occasionally, I'll push the limits of my food vocabulary by including such statements as 'complimentary flavors' or 'great texture'.

Basically, I am NOT a food critic nor do I want the responsibility of people actually taking my feedback seriously and using my recommendations just to end up feeling disappointed.

Having cleared all that up, how DARE I compile a list of 'BEST' of anything in Brisbane? Not only that but COFFEE?? People go nuts about coffee. There are barista championships and prize-winning blends.

Apricot Chicken

Apricot Chicken
Home Cooking



Continuing on with the trend of bulk cooking, last night was apricot chicken night. A trip to Coles was arranged to pick up necessary ingredients and I'm happy to announce I got a free 6-pack of chocolate hot cross buns (buy one get one free deal). The funny thing is, we weren't sure whether the discount was put through and when I was asked to check, I automatically threw out the receipt. This was the first of the evening's many lapses in judgment.

Skinning a pineapple

Apricot chicken is one of Byron's dishes (probably doesn't require clarification since I haven't posted any savory dish of my own doing for many months) so the actual recipe is hazy to me. I wasn't much of a positive contribution to the cooking process but I know a large pot was involved. After identifying myself as a redundancy, I removed myself from the kitchen and watched Biggest Loser on TV.

Kings Food

Kings Food
Market Square Shopping Center, Corner McCullough and Mains Rd



If you live in Brisbane, you would've heard the hype surrounding Clem 7. I'm one of those who doesn't have a private means of transport and also doesn't need to travel from Southside to Northside on a day to day basis. In other words, the tunnel opening didn't affect me but I was still bombarded with news stories and even friends on Facebook updating their status with Clem 7 'best times'.

It so happens that last weekend I needed to head North to Strathpine to check out a car I spotted for sale online. I live near one of the entries to the tunnel so it was an ideal excuse to take advantage of the toll-free period.



I suppose 1/2 of Brisbane must've been thinking the same thing because on the way there, the tunnel was completely congested. We laughed scornfully at the cars entering the obviously blocked road tunnel like sheep and zipped past easily on the adjacent highway.

Zucchini Carbonara

Zucchini Carbonara
Home Cooking



A few weeks ago I got a parcel from one of my best friends down in Canberra. She snail-mailed it up for my birthday and I was hoarding it until the actual day so as to not prematurely ruin the surprise. Of course, I am an individual that's completely without self-control. It was still several days before my birthday when I saw the package and mindlessly tore it open.

Contents = pasta machine.

Let's all be honest here, more often then not, you'll get a present that's not exactly what you want. Unless you asked for it. This was one of those rare miraculous occasions where I don't remember saying "I REALLY want a pasta machine" to anyone but it was something I've been wanting for a long time.

So THANKS LOVELY!!!!!!!

Breadtop in Brisbane

Breadtop, Garden City
Kiosk K218, Westfield Garden City, Upper Mount Gravatt



My first experience of Breadtop was down in Sydney. I remember that my friends and I spent the whole trip on a full belly because there were just too many things we wanted to eat. The moment we walked into Breadtop, I didn't even care because I wasn't the least bit in the mood to eat anything. We bought a tray of stuff out of novelty and it wasn't until later in the day that I had a chance to appreciate the actual taste.



When I saw a Breadtop open in Garden City a few months back, I felt a level of excitement disproportional to how much I actually cared about the shop. What I mean is, I wasn't someone who recently moved to Brisbane and was craving Breadtop from Melbourne or Sydney and felt a sudden sense of nostalgia upon seeing a local store opening up. I was just excited because I dig food and I like Brisbane having more options.