29 Sep - Home Food - White Chai Tow Kway / Lo Bak Goh / Fried Carrot Cake

Here's my attempt at white carrot cake. Stir fried radish pieces with salt and pepper, chai poh, garlic, spring onions and eggs. More savoury than the black version but still slightly bland...

28 Sep - Home Food - Siew Yuk / Roast Pork

I had a hankering for some roast pork belly late last week, so on Saturdays shopping run, I stopped by the Chinese butchers down at the shops at Amazon Drive. $16 later, I had a nice bit of pork belly, which I chopped into two.

A recipe I found had a long preperation routine to get the skin as dry as possible. First, I mixed hoisin sauce and five spice powder, slashed into the meat side and rubbed this marinade in. Then, on the skin side, I sprinkled sea salt and put the belly in the fridge, uncovered. The dry air of the fridge pulls the moisture out to try and get the best crackling possible.

So this afternoon, I whacked the pork in the oven, then as per instructions, after 20 mins, poked the skin and liberally applied vinegar. After the internal temperature of the pork hit 75 degrees, the skin was still not crackled. A liberal dose of electric grill helped sort that out.

I let it completely cool before trying to cut it. I used my nice and heavy meat cleaver which seemed to do the ob, although my cutting is uneven. A little practice should sort that out.

Next time, I might try roasting in the BBQ. The heat from a gas flame might make it crackle... who knows? I wouldn't of thought so, but my povo electric oven doesn't seem to do it without the griller.

28 Sep - Home Food - Black Chai Tow Kway / Lo Bak Goh / Fried Carrot Cake

I always loved carrot cake when I was in Singapore. I have memories of having this as breakfast at my Aunts place, wrapped up in brown paper, still slightly warm. But the last time I had it in Singapore and the last few times I've made it myself, I haven't really enjoyed it. I can eat it in small quantities, but not a whole plate. Might give the white version a try as it does not have kecap manis. This radish cake recipe is quite good though, the radish cakes turned out to be very soft whilst still holding their shape in the wok.

27 Sep - Home Food - KFC Rice Porridge / Congee

Leftover KFC chicken? Check. Heaps of rice? Check. Time to make KFC porridge. I put cooked rice and KFC Hot and Spicy in a pot with water and cooked it until it was a gloopy mess. Added spring onion and done. Topped with preserved cabbage and some fried shallot.

The verdict? Still not as good as Mums...

26 Sep - Paul and Vanessa's wedding, Swanbourne

Paul, a work mate of mine tied the knot over the weekend down at Swanbourne Beach, having his ceremony down near the water and the reception only a few steps away. Once we were seated, little canapes were served, followed by soup, buffet style mains and dessert.

Smoked salmon with caper mousse.

Ratatouille tarts.

Pumpkin soup

My selection of food including roast beef, barbecue butter prawns, tandoori chicken, grilled emperor and a little salad. Hidden under all that was some cold meats (ham, salami, beef)

Pavlova and half a profiterole (shared with CB). The profiteroles were gooooooood. I think I had another two or three afterwards...

19 Sep - Noranda Bakery, Noranda

Saturday is food shopping day and CB and I were in Noranda. CB was feeling a little peckish and had a load of shrapnel to get rid of. I noticed that the bakery in Noranda had a chilli cheese sausage horn.
Quite similar to the cheese sausage horn last week, but with chilli! And, there was quite a decent bite to it too! It didn't seem to be as greasy last week too.

CB and I shared one of their eclairs too. Cream, custard, chocolate and choux pastry... what could be better? Mmmmmmmmmm.

18 Sep - Bonsai Restaurant and Café Lounge, Northbridge

CB received an offer to try out an opening Japanese restaurant in Northbridge, where we could try the food, give our opinions and receive a nice discount. CB and I ordered a bunch of sharing plates, the ones which I sampled are here:

CB and I shared a dish called Salmon bites. Sashimi salmon, dressed and served on witlof leaves.

Tempura vegetables and prawns. Vegetables included sweet potato, brocoli, eggplant and capsicum. The eggplant was a little bland and needed a little seasoning, but the rest were good.

Chilli mayo crab balls. Sweet crab meat inside a crunchy breadcrumb coating, with chilli mayonnaise.

Cheesy Pork Katsu rolls. This was very rich and I was done after one roll. The cheddar cheese was quite strong, I would've liked mozzarella for its creamy texture.

CB also ordered takoyaki and agedashi tofu. All in all, the food was quite good, and with the discount, worked out to be very cheap. In fact, parking for an hour nearly cost as much as the meal itself!

12 Sep - Gloria Jeans & Mirrabooka Bakery, Mirrabooka

Preparing for Singapore ... coffee breakfast with fried goodies. I had a latte with two curry puffs and a "cheese sausage horn".

The curry puffs were beef, and surprisingly had no potato. It was just curry flavoured beef mince. It was OK, but was definitely no Curry-O.

The cheese sausage horn was gluttonous... cheese sausage wrapped in pastry with browned cheese on top. It was a total grease bomb and hit the spot!

4 Sep - Mikazuki Sushi, Cockburn Gateway

I met up with the guys and the usual Friday lunch outing, and went for the usual karaage. Mmm.. boy do I miss it! The top pic is James' extreme closeup .. the bottom pic is my usual photo style where you can see everything in its entirety.