Vanilla Slice

Vanilla slices....its the Australian version of the French "mille-feuille". So, what is mille-feuille? It means a thousands layers. Some people also call the mille-feuille, the Napoleon. I remember when I was a student, my Austrian lecturer told us that mille-feuille has 3 layers of puff pastry and 2 layers of custard.  The vanilla slices which I make every day consists of 2 layers of butter puff pastry and its sandwiched with custard, covered with a layer of fondat and lastly, sprinkle with snow sugar and its one of the best seller at work. Here's a photo of my vanilla slices.

Did you know that there's an annual competition which is held in Australia when bakers will come from far and near to compete for the BEST Vanilla Slice Baker? Awesome, isn't it?!

I also made a mud cake birthday cake for one of my customers. I really hope they will love it.  Here's a photo of it.

Till next time...

Batu Lesung (Stone Motar)

We saw the batu lesung in one of our local supermart and we just had to buy it. This batu lesung brings back lots of fond memories of my childhood. I always hear the pounding of the batu lesung each morning when I wake-up. My Grandma and Grandaunt will be busy in the kitchen pounding rempah for the day's menu (lunch and dinner) and not forgetting the sambal belacan. If I run into the kitchen, I will see either my Grandma or Grandaunt sitting on a small stool on the floor and tumbuk (pound) away. I was taught to use the batu lesung when I was 5 years old and was often reminded that girls who know how to use a lesung properly will make a good wife...alamak!!!

I remembered when my Ma brought home a Philip food blender and tried to teach my Grandma and Grandaunt to use it instead of the batu lesung. Alamak...they sweared that only the batu lesung is the only tool which will produce the best sambal, the best paste, etc. However, I also remember that you need to know what pressure to use and how long you are required to grind the item.

And...lastly, it is very important to wash and dry the batu lesung properly after each use. My Grandma and Grandaunt will wash it with warm water and dishwashing detergent using a sponge. After that, they will dry it with a clean dry cloth. They will then cover it with another cloth and put it away.

Here's a photo of our batu lesung.

Rocky Road Slice & Lemon Coconut Slice

Slices are very popular here. Its a portable baked item which one will find in any bakery here. The ever so popular vanilla slice, hedgehog slice, jelly slice...the list goes on and on.  One will never get enough of slices, it seems. Slices can be easily made up without an oven.  My Grandaunt once said that a baker is not a baker if there's no slice recipes in her cookbook.

Did you know that Rocky Road was an Australian invention?  From the stories I have heard, really horrible bad hearted businessmen mixed the spoilt confectionary with milk chocolate and other sweet items ( to musk the taste and smell) and sold it to gold miners. So sad, isn't it?

These days, rocky road is very popular here, in the USA, UK and other countries.  Of course, we use the fresh items to make this beautiful slice. Here's a photo of my rocky road slice.

Besides the rocky road slice, I also made the lemon coconut slice. Here's a photo of it.

Till next time...bye!!!

Not Forgotten...

It has been awhile since I last wrote in this blog. We had to move due to job commitments....and from there, it was busy, busy, busy, hunting, searching, looking, deciding, etc.. Now that we are more settled, I finally have time to blog again.

Its spring now but we still have a little winter now and then. Just this morning, the temperature dropped to 9 degrees C...good golly. To make matters worst, my other half has fallen sick. My 2 kiddos have been under the weather for a week now and now that they have recovered, its my poor other half who is sick..sigh!!!  So, what can I do? what can I do?  One thing that came into my mind - asian porridge. Too bad I don't have any salted eggs, preserved veggies (kiam chye) and other stuff which we could easily hunt in chinatown. However, now that we have moved, it will take us more than several hours to drive down to chinatown. So, I will just have to make do with what I have.

Here's a photo of my asian porridge.  When my other half is ready to have his lunch, I will heat-up the porridge and knock an egg in it.  I managed to find some preserved vegetables...wohoo!!!

I think its time for me to make my own "homemade salted eggs" for emergencies such as this.  I really wish I can find some duck eggs but alas, I am not able to find it here.  So, I will have to use chicken eggs instead.  I have never ever done this before though...will give you guys some feedback after 30 days. Here's what I did with my homemade salted eggs:

An empty clean glass bottle
Duck Eggs or Chicken Eggs
Salt
Water
Sichuan Peppercorns
Star Anise
Warm Water
A dash of chinese cooking wine

Here's a photo of my homemade salted eggs in progress.

I also made hou yau kai (oyster sauce chicken) for my kiddos. Here's a photo of one of our main dishes for dinner tonite.

I will post an update after 30 days for my homemade salted eggs. Fingers crossed...hopefully it will be a success.