Truth & Justice?

Been M-I-A on and off over the past few months....

Been:

• Entrenched at work
• Doing a spot of travelling (HK)
• Falling in and out of unreciprocated 'love' (bummer hey!?)
• Fighting for the truth to be revealed and finding it's a rarity (it doesn't come naturally to most people)
• Feeling like my inate sense of justice is a lonely thing to have
• Reminded that love, truth and justice often means sacrifice
• Realising I smile and moan like Marge Simpson (thanks to my brother)

I'm sure there are more pearls or rocks of wisdom to be revealed, however my bed calls - early start tomorrow morning....

Cake from a goat?

(Top image - Fraser's shot of their lovely culinary creation, Bottom image - a large slice at work)

I've been meaning to post this for a while - it was worthy of a post!

Apologies to the Fraser's for being so slow...

Mr Fraser claimed the baking as his own (when I first complimented it), but soon had to confess it was Mrs Fraser's work. Mr Fraser did say he strategically placed the figs and pistachios on top of the cake, but I am not sure what to believe!

I was so impressed:

a) because I've been fearful of trying to bake a cheesecake myself

b) the presentation was complete with fresh figs and pistachios was visually stimulating

c) it wasn't too sweet

d) I was one of a select few chosen to partake in the consumption of the remainder of this gourmet creation - a privilege in itself.

Mr Fraser also neglected to tell me it was Goat's Cheesecake, not some standard run of the mill cheesecake!

Thank you Mrs Fraser for allowing your husband to share such a treat with us. Hopefully one day we will meet since we seem to have a common love for food. : )

Thank you Mr Fraser for sharing it with us!

Enjoy!

Goat’s cheese cake with figs and honey

Serves 10
Cooking Time Prep time 20 mins, cook 1 hr 20 mins (plus resting, cooling)

500 gm	cream cheese, at room temperature
250 gm	goat’s curd, at room temperature
75 gm	softened butter
4	eggs
110 gm	(½ cup) raw caster sugar
2 tsp	vanilla extract
1	lemon, finely grated rind only
6	black figs, cut into wedges
To serve:	honey and chopped pistachios
Almond pastry
240 gm	plain flour
200 gm	butter, coarsely chopped
80 gm	ground almonds
40 gm	(¼ cup) pure icing sugar
1	egg yolk

1	For almond pastry, process flour, butter, almonds and icing sugar until fine crumbs form, add yolk and 20ml cold water and pulse to just bring dough together. Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and knead lightly until dough comes together, press into the base of a 23cm-diameter springform pan lined with baking paper and refrigerate until rested and firm (2 hours).
2	Preheat oven to 175C. Bake base until light golden and cooked through (30-40 minutes).
3	Meanwhile, beat cheeses, butter, eggs, sugar, vanilla and rind in an electric mixer until combined and smooth. Pour over pastry and bake until set (30-40 minutes), cool to room temperature (2 hours), then top with figs and pistachios and serve drizzled with honey. Cake is best made on day of serving.

This recipe is from the March 2010 issue of Australian Gourmet Traveller.

http://gourmettraveller.com.au/goats-cheese-cake-with-figs-and-honey.htm

Michelin Star Yum Cha - Hong Kong (Part 3)

Outside the restaurant - customers desperate to get a ticket (much like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - I want a lucky ticket!'

The queue before it wrapped around the corner.

Reviews of the restaurant stuck outside the front window.

Sample dishes on the wall and placemats.

*****

I forgot to mention you are given a small order form when you queue up for a ticket. You write the number of each dish you would like - the restaurant is so tiny there is no room for trolleys! The number of dishes is minimal - maybe 20 at the most....specialised yum cha.

Michelin Star Yum Cha - Hong Kong (Part 2)

[Clockwise: Sticky rice, lo bak go (pan fried turnip cake), fried pastries filled with mince, har gow (steamed prawn dumplings), taro sago and rose petal and goji berry jelly]

Michelin Star Yum Cha - Hong Kong (Part 1)

[Clockwise: Beef ball with bean curd, Pai gwat (steamed pork), beef cheong fun - beef rice noodle (we also had BBQ pork version), vegetarian dumplings, ma lai go (steamed sponge cake), cha siu bau (pork bun)]





I arrived in Hong Kong last night to visit my brother and have a getaway over Easter. I had not had much time to settle in before he and my aunt announce we are going to try to eat at a Michelin star yum cha place the next day - the catch is we have to go early to queue! If you go after the early morning rush you could end up waiting up to 5 hours!

Hmm, I was thinking is it really worth it?!

And so we arrived about 9:30am and the queue was already about 50 people deep and almost starting to wrap around the corner. After the first siiting was let in (the restaurant only fits 28 people at a time) we were allocated number 20 - that means there were 19 other groups before us. Given this is my first day in HK and I was open to seeing where my brother would lead, I went with the flow of things and we wandered around the local area until our time was up.

I can't say I would wait 2.5 hours again to eat there, let alone 5 hours. But at least I can say I've eaten there! Between the 3 of us we agreed the highlight was the beef balls with bean curd and the steamed sponge cake was also pretty good. The pork bun was not your average steamed floury or flakey pastry pork bun. It had an unusual spongy but light casing with a slathering of BBQ port inside. Interesting but not fantastic.

For the 3 of us it cost HKD194 which is approximately AUD28 - very good value considering yum cha in Sydney would normally cost AUD25 per head!
What was crazy, was that a woman dining on her own next to us ordered 2 sticky rice, 3 servings of spring rolls, 1 serving of har gow (prawn dumplings), eggplant stuffed with mince meat, steamed lettuce with soy sauce, a serving of pork buns. She ate half and took the other half away! My aunt spoke to her and she was from Repulse Bay. She said she was going to heat up the spring rolls in the oven at home.....To me, the phenomenom of the restaurant blew me away more than the food. Tim Ho Wan 2-8 Kwong Wah St. Mong Kok

2332- 2896