Raining Chaos

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  • Rosewater panna cotta

    So it turns out rice pudding isn’t super photogenic, and I can’t even get some gorgeous purplish poached pears to make it look good!

    Either that, or I also fail at plating and presentation. So instead, I get to show off my first attempt at panna cotta!

    I decided to go with rosewater because it was a flavour that I had in mind. My main concern was getting the wobbliness just right and of course, making sure it set properly. In addition, I had to figure out what the best mould would be for it – so I went with a whisky glass that came with a bottle of Scotch that my flatmates had.

    Luckily enough, I had some dried flower petals already, but I was unprepared for a sauce. I had an idea to plate with a red sauce, and I’ve previously done this with rosewater pomegranate in my Virtual Valentine, which I’d then garnish with mint as a hint of green. However, there being no pomegranates available, I do admit to cheating and buying some pomegranate molasses, and quince and rose jelly, melting those together and making a pseudo sauce – which managed to mimic the shiny bejewelled effect of pomegranate arils anyway!

    Plus I think it worked out better that way as it made it soooo pretty. And it was the right amount of wobbly, but I’d definitely add a little less gelatin just to ensure the texture is smooth and creamy.

    I’d almost make this a book cover called “Reine’s Kitchen” if it was that tiny bit even more perfect – there are little bits of slightly broken panna cotta side which I tried to hide, having never demoulded a panna cotta before (especially as I haven’t made one previously?). I am one dish closer to claiming I know how to cook!

    I should attempt some even more challenging dishes, but I do have to look after my budget a bit so there may be a hiatus on my creative cooking. And yes, I know, I don’t need to break the bank to do epic dishes like these. This one was cheap as! (except for the bit where I cheated haha)

  • lol, i think i learned how to photoshop

    Yep you get the butchered, “Photoshop Takes Zero Skill” versions!!! Muahahaha
    Teehee!

  • Greenhouse

    Finally. After three years, I found an opportunity to visit. I’m combining this post with my experience from the pop-up restaurant in Sydney as both are amazing. The temporary restaurant was an eye opener and a brand new experience, and seeing the real thing was well worth it.

    Greenhouse by Joost, Sydney

    Greenhouse, Perth

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  • Journey… to the not so West

    Hello Perth!

    So nice to finally meet you, having first wanted to see you in all your glory many many years ago after your most amazing restaurant featured on Masterchef – Greenhouse.

    I had only known a week earlier that I’d get the opportunity to say hi, and had scrambled to shortlist a cafe and restaurant selection for only two days. The internet recommended Standing Room Only, plus some others, but I knew the key to the crawl lay in the charming baristas.

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  • Fancy cooking? What’s that?

    Watching Masterchef and eating baked bean allsorts – baked beans and frankfurt, baked beans on toast, baked beans + bacon + egg bake. Oh, and some mi goreng instant noodles, why not. 🙂

  • Oz Comic Con, Benedict, Amanda, Corin, and a quartet of vocally active troublemakers and the heartless dog

    Where do I start in a world where I like to begin at the beginning, where the beginning is relative to my train of thought, the view of others, my out of body view of myself and the order of events as I recall and the actual happenings. Oh and of course, my own ability to prioritise each of the events in the title.

    Oz Comic Con? I went for Benedict. That silly, adorkable person who is just so polite, and silly and so polite and nice.

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  • Running, jumping, and vivid succulent trees

    Every now and again, I get my weird, random dreams that I actually remember in enough detail that I can actually blog about it like an epic story. And when I get really lucky, it comes illustrated!

    Turns out dreaming can really tire you, especially if you spend 2-3 dream hours running away from what you think are bad guys, but you’re not really sure because it’s not explained in your dream why they’re chasing you, your friend simply says so, and they’re waving guns about, so you may as well run for your life.

    In my case, I was with a friend and we were getting ready to be in a play. First we’re getting our costumes ready, next we’re sitting in the audience, staring at an empty stage waiting for things to happen. My friend got up and started walking off, and indicated for me to do the same. I was confused, but followed her lead. It turns out she just wanted to escape, so we spent the first part of our night out on the streets, just walking about, when I came across a succulent tree. With chunky, triangular leaves and bright orange and red flowers as big as my hand, the branches weighed down from all the water in the leaves, enough that the flowers were within my reach. I also wanted to take a cutting so I could grow them at home. I reached out, plucked one, but then found that the entire tree was infested! White caterpillars and a bright green gummy worm (yes, a gummy worm) were all over my flower, so I threw it back on the ground. I had no time to be disappointed as some mysterious guy started walking towards us – possibly a council worker or something, so my friend and I quickly disappeared.

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  • Snobbery snob snob

    So the other day, I met my first real snob. Not just a pretend snob, or wannabe snob, this was an absolutely real, fully fledged snob, and it was an amazing experience.

    Basically, I was frequenting my cafe, sitting at the communal table eating waffles, and eventually the barista asked me how my coffee was. The person diagonally opposite me then got asked the same thing. Due to my response (which was usually some panicked survival instinct kicking in to help me describe my coffee in the hopes of not sounding like I have no clue), he started talking to me. It always starts out the same, “so you like coffee?” which then turned into a very interesting conversation.

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  • Orana

     

    I’ve hyped up this restaurant amongst my friends, mostly because I have an incredibly well connected barista. On top of that, I managed to stalk Heston Blumenthal as I’d been given a heads up that he was visiting, as well as having read an article by Terry Durack from his visit. All the big names! How could I not go? So I went!

    I did some research before going, and discovered that the staff had previously worked at Magill Estate (which I was totally unaware of, having been an ignorant Sydney-sider who only pined for Quay and Rockpool), which apparently is an amazing restaurant. Much like Attica, the head chef forages, and the cuisine is indigenous Australian – and not witchetty grubs, mind you – but rather encompassing all of Australia’s history including the present, so there was some tasty beef and my favourite succulents.

    Being only 3 weeks old and a tiny place to start off with (25 seats), it was interesting to talk to the staff, and that they were learning  as well, especially since they created a per-dish juice pairing (unlike Momofuku, which paired every second dish or thereabouts). So I would say this was even a new juice pairing concept!

    Now that’s enough rambling and onto pretty pictures.

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