Cinnamon Donut & Strawberry Croquembouche (28 June 2011)

Cheap, easy and fun

A work colleagues birthday inspires me to create a birthday cake. I knew he loved Krispy Kreme donuts but discovered their Wynyard shop had closed and the Central Station shop was unfortunately too far to get to during my lunch time. A trip to the CBD Town Hall Woolworths scores me cinnamon donuts on special ($2.48, 12 pack) and strawberries ($3.98, 250g punnet). For my 39th birthday I did something similar using mini iced donut which tends to work better. Of course it's not as good as a real French croquembouche which you'd find at Patisse.

Cinnamon donut & strawberry croquembouche ($8.94) — feeds 24 people for afternoon tea. Plate and birthday card not included.

Donuts for the sugar hit and strawberries as the gluten-free option

Time to eat

Top Juice: Biggest and best cherries I've seen this season, Westfield Sydney (10 Dec 2010)

Cnr Market and Castlereagh St Sydney NSW 2000

http://westfield.com.au/sydney

Best cherries of the season?

Thanks to Joy Leaper and Melinda Griffith from Liquid Ideas for sending me an early Christmas Hamper of goodies from Top Juice and Le Pain Quotidien of Westfield Sydney. I couldn't believe the size of this fruit hamper which seemed to have everything in it including mango, apple, orange, grapes, peaches, nectarines, dates, banana, papaya, passionfruit, Asian pear, massive strawberries, white cherries and huge red cherries and even a couple of exotic dragonfruit — it's weight was formidable. The large plump red cherries took me by surprise since I've been hearing so much about the bad season of cherries this year from readers in response to my Coles spot check although this doesn't seem to have affected the Top Juice offering. Seriously these cherries were ridiculous in size and thankfully were very tasty and juicy as hoped — I shared a few around the office to astonished faces. For such premium produce you have to expect a premium price and they're currently selling at $40/kg at Top Juice or $55/kg in David Jones Food Hall. Equally impressive were the strawberries with firm green stems and leaves still attached. They were nearly the size of the mutant one I found back in September but tasted a lot better — a Strapple as Kristy calls them.

Le Pain Quotidien — a name I have trouble working out how to pronounce — provided a large crunchy baguette and four Organic spreads. I don't really eat chocolate in the morning and prefer jam with my toast but the Belgian Chocolate and Hazelnut Spread is my favourite of them all — probably because it has a similar taste to Nutella which I've had before. I'm trying to think of a dessert I could make with them perhaps? I also received a $25 Breakfast Voucher which I'm looking forward to trying a croissant, coffee and maybe an organic omelet.

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Quality fruit that tastes good, Spreads are organic, Breads are organic, Open from 8 am for breakfast

CONS: Need to eat the fruit quickly in this hot weather before it spoils, Premium cherries are expensive, Strawberries bruise the easiest in hampers

MUST TRY: Fruit salad at Top Juice, Find people to share the spreads with or I'll become a human blimp

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Fruit hamper of many different fruits

Size comparison of normal cherry (Hunter Street fruit stand) and Top Juice cherry

Good colour and flavour

Top Juice on level 5 Westfield Sydney: Premium cherries ($40/kg)

Size comparison of Top Juice strawberry aka The Strapple

Good colour and flavour

Le Pain Quotidien bread roll and organic spreads

Blondie, Noir, Noisella and Brunette spreads

Noisella: Belgian Chocolate and Hazelnut Spread

$25 Breakfast Voucher to use

Le Pain Quotidien located on level 4 of Westfield Sydney

Comparison pricing from David Jones Food Hall for premium cherries ($55/kg)

Sunny Ridge Long Stems Strawberries from David Jones Food Hall ($14.90/400g)

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Cocktail recipe: 'Be My Strawberry Appleteaser' (11 Sept 2010)

http://www.preshafood.com.au

Inspired by Dita Von Teese

I was so impressed with the taste of the Preshafruit Valencia that I was curious to try the Apple & Strawberry ($4.99/1 litre) and Apple & Passionfruit ($4.99/1 litre) flavours. The Apple & Strawberry ends up being my preferred one out the two which had a nice balance of apple and strawberry flavour. The passionfruit in the other isn't as noticeable but it does have quite a refreshing taste. The distinctive flavour of the Apple & Strawberry inspired me to create a cocktail using fresh strawberries, Bombay Sapphire Gin and Cointreau. With the Cointreau Global Brand Ambassador Dita Von Teese set to perform her world renowned Be Cointreauversial show in Sydney on 16 September 2010 I've named this cocktail the Be My Strawberry Appleteaser — how awesome would it be to be invited to this VIP special event :-)

For more photos of videos of Dita Von Teese check out:

http://www.ditasdomain.com/cointreau

Be My Strawberry Appleteaser recipe

Makes 2 (or 1 if you're thirsty)

• 4 fresh strawberries or 1 Mutant Strawberry

• 6 fresh mint leaves

• 30 ml Bombay Sapphire Gin (1 shot)

• 30 ml Cointreau (1 shot)

• 120 ml Preshafruit Apple & Strawberry juice (4 shots)

• 6 ice cubes

Muddle strawberries with mint, Bombay Sapphire Gin, Cointreau and juice. Add ice and shake vigorously in a boston shaker. Pour and strain into a martini glass. Enjoy!

Alternatively you can blend all ingredients and add a shot of Frangelico as well for extra kick and taste.

Apple & Strawberry ($4.99/1 litre), Apple & Passionfruit ($4.99/1 litre)

Apple & Strawberry ($4.99/1 litre)

Apple and Passionfruit ($4.99/1 litre)

Muddle 4 fresh strawberries, fresh mint, 30 ml Gin, 30 ml Cointreau, 120 ml Preshafruit Apple & Strawberry Juice then shake with ice and strain into martini glass

Be My Strawberry Appleteaser, Bartender Si :-)

OMG, look at the size of this Mutant Strawberry (11 Sept 2010)

Organic or Genetically Modified?

OMG, look at the size of this mother of all strawberries! It took up nearly half the punnet and is about 4-5 times the size of all the other strawberries and weighs in at 98 grams. It's physical size is 9 x 7 x 3.5 cm. It's one hell of a mutant strawberry which makes me wonder how it got to be like that in the first place. Can strawberries naturally grow like this or is there some GM at play here? Has anyone else ever found a strawberry like this? Thanks to my dad for bringing it to my attention.

In the same punnet: 1 normal and 1 mutant strawberry

Size comparison to normal sized strawberry

9 cm wide

7 cm depth

3.5 cm high

98 grams

It looks very similar in style to this one

ST. ALi: Coffee Roasters, South Melbourne (26 April 2010)

12-18 Yarra Place, South Melbourne VIC 3205
http://www.stali.com.au

Coffee central

St. Ali is short for Ali ibn Umar al-Shadhili. Otherwise known as the patron saint of coffee.

There's nothing like having your great expectations met, but sadly this wasn't the case for me when I visited one of Melbourne's most popular and buzzing coffee houses. It's tucked away in the back streets of South Melbourne so can be a little hard to find if you haven't been their before — especially for an out-of-towner. There's plenty of seating inside but it's still hard to get a seat when it's busy. Milk crates are available across the road for those waiting for seat but even these are mostly all taken. I try their beautifully presented flat white ($4 I think) which was smooth enough and not too bitter but I found it lacked depth of flavour and is perhaps a little on the watery side — perhaps I'm missing something here. It wasn't bad but just nothing special or unique as well. It didn't help being seated outside on the small balcony in direct sunlight which made it particularly uncomfortable due to the heat and glare. The Sweet French Toast ($15.50) was a large serving of balsamic glazed strawberries, fresh mint, vanilla bean mascarpone and almond granola. This was quite tasty and the refreshing mint seemed to work well amongst the flavours. Trying to finish the whole thing was a little bit of a challenge but an enjoyable one.

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Efficient and down-to-earth service, Interesting coffees and dishes available

CONS: Hard to get a seat due to it's popularity, Balcony seating can be hot due to direct sunlight, Hard to find for first timers

MUST TRY: Other dishes on the menu when I revisit Melbourne

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Flat white ($4?)

Sweet French Toast: Balsamic glazed strawberries, fresh mint, vanilla bean mascarpone and almond granola ($15.50)

Service counter and baristas

Inside seating

Menu

What — no grapefruit! ;-)

Coffee of the day

Makeshift milk crate seating across the road next to the awesome street art

Single-speed bicycle — oh how Melbourne.

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