Hoi Sin, ginger and chilli asian stir-fry with fried polenta..

So this was tonights creation! A pure Grace original! hehe..The beef stir fry has a bunch of ingredients including Sambal Oesek (one of my new favourite ingredients), ginger, soy sauce, hoi sin sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, lots of sauce, veggies (carrot, cabbage, pumpkin, leek, onion, bok choy) and chilli of course. Mum and I sat there with the tissue box, our noses running a stream because it was rather spicy. Mum said it was great for weight loss! haha..so she was happy, being on a diet trying to loose weight for Andrew and NIna's wedding. The polenta was rather bland but isn't polenta always bland? It soaked up the sauce well though and the flavour of the stir-fry compensated for the polenta blandness.

Mum really liked the dish as did I. It turned out well! Wasn't sure how asian flavours would go with polenta but not bad! Not bad at all!
Now I am FULL FULL FULL!

Cheeeeeeeeeese fondue round the fire!

Firstly THANKYOU to Natalie for my fondue pot, I love it!! Secondly I was rather disappointed with this cheese fondue! Maybe I am just not used to the really strong white wine flavour, but it just wasn't as cheesy as I would of liked! Too much wine I think, although Natalie disagreed and was disappointed I added more cheese half way through! Megan suggested next time I use a milder cheese such as tasty instead of vintage with the swiss cheese. I think the vintage cheese flavour was a little overpowering, along with the wine, the poor swiss cheese didn't get a look in! The crusty bread was the best dipper for me! I just need to adjust the recipe next time I think. milder cheese, less wine.

A lovely evening with friend around the fire as winter ends, looking forward to spring baking and summer BBQ's!

Coconut, walnut, oat cake with chai latte and dark chocolate gnash!

So this was one of those cake's that came to be through a need to use up some gnash! So I had chai latte gnash leftover from the macarons and some cream to use up also. So I had a picnic to attend the following day and I asked myself what can I make to put this gnash and cream on? So I ended up making up a dark chocolate gnash with some choc in the cupboard and then started the process of elimination. Brownies? no, date slice? no, any type of slice? no, biscuits? no, shortbread? no, chocolate cake? no, sponge cake? hmmm maybe..although plain old sponge cake is a little boring so I found a coconut sponge cake recipe, and chucked in some oats as well! The cake came out well. Chucked in a layer with a mixture of the gnashes and some chopped walnuts, made a pretty swirly pattern on the top with the two gnashes and that my friends is how you create happy picnickers! I was actually surprised at how well this cake tasted! A random mix of flavours but they all complemented one another! YAY

Baileys and banana bread and butter pudding!! yummm

Well this one is from a Jamie Oliver cookbook and it was a hit! Everyone at my going away party loved it! I have never been a huge fan of bread and butter puddings, they can be kinda sickening! However this one wasn't too sweet and overly milky. I think the bananas really helped. My only disappointment was you couldn't really taste the baileys and for the amount we out in there, this was a little surprising. A bit of a waste really, but there were some people who said they could taste it!
Overall, a great success!

Chai melting moments!

Its 10.30pm and I have uni the next day but that did not stop me! I had a whole bowl of chai flavoured ganache left over from the macarons Steph, Will and I made and I was feeling inspired to make something with it. There were still many macarons in the fridge so I decided to use the ganache with something else. First I thought some kind of slice or cake would be good and I could spread the ganache over the top or use it as layers in a sponge cake. However then I remembered my Granny's melting moments and how delicious they were and I had the idea to make them, although the filling would be a little different. Granny's melting moments had a more buttery vanilla flavoured filling but I must say these melting moments were still divine. Probably not quite at Granny's standards but I don't think I will ever have a melting moment made by anyone else that could compare to Granny's. They turned out really well, I was actually impressed with myself! They are sooooooo simple to make and sooooooo yummy, probably because they have a whole cow's worth of butter in them!

So our fridge was full of yummy delicate delights all week! Poor Mum is on a diet and couldn't have any so she froze some for when her diet finishes! Funny one she is! I enjoyed savouring the moments with friends and guests many times throughout the week with a yummy cup of chai tea. Loved sitting in the late winter sun as Spring slowly creeps closer. If there is one biscuit you make in your life, make a melting moment! And have a melting moment in the sun!

Macarons!! Heaven!!

Well how divine were these?? well you didn't try them I guess so you won't know but I tell you now they were amazing!!
It all began when my beautiful friend Steph (an apprentice pastry chef) was visiting for the week end. I was at work on a fine Saturday morning when my brother Will had the brilliant idea to make macarons and asked Steph the expert to teach him. Even though she makes them everyday for work she still was happy to make some! Bless her lovely soul! Anyway so off they trot to the shops and begin on the ganache. So I arrive home in the afternoon only to find Will has deserted the project to go visit his lovely fiance in Sydney. So Steph and I began the long almost four hour process of making the shells, piping them out, baking them and after they cooled, adding the ganache (chai flavoured by the way). The ganache was made by boiling chai leaves with cream over the stove and also incorporating white chocolate. It was delish!! Steph asked me what colour I wanted to make the shells. Her chai macarons at work are a lovely brownie colour but we only had pink food colouring so pink they were! haha..

Thank you Steph for teaching me about macarons and Will for initiating the idea! And thanks Steph for being gracious and making macarons with us even on your day off! I love you and cherish your beauty and creativity! It twas a lovely baking experience with a lovely friend. mwa!

Recipe #16: Chocolate and walnut brownies!!

DEAD SET EPIC BROWNIES!!

Think about those words for a moment! DEAD= eternal...yeah I got nothing..SET= well set, cooked perfectly, moist....Epic= one of a kind, adventure, to remember..and Brownies= awesome chocolatey things!!
Ok you are probably thinking did this girl put something in her brownies?? No I didn't I am just in a bit of an interesting mood!!
Anyway back to the brownies..like seriously if you want an epic moist lovely brownie recipe to make you feel sick cause you ate too many of them cause they are sooooo good..then this is the recipe for you!!

So how did these amazing brownies come about?? Well the incredible, amazing, wonderful Ashley was coming over for a late night cuppa and I thought I should wip up something quick and easy and these were just that! But also delicious!
Ash gave them a 9 out of ten..her comment was that they definitely need the nuts or they would of been too sweet. I agree! The nuts add some crunch and nice contrast to the rich chocolate. The recipe gives the option of using bittersweet chocolate or nuts, I used a bit of each!

Very moist (probably due to the cow full of butter used) and addictive. I had one too many! With a cup of tea, a good friend to chat with, great music to listen to and a warm room to chill in..what more do you need in a winter evening?