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what better way to make up for the virtuousness of a morning of yoga than to sit down to a cup of tea… and an ice cream sundae. no matter that it was a morning so chilly that the brisk fifteen minute walk between house and yoga class was time enough for the skin on my face to break out in cold-induced welts. a morning so nippy that my brain function slowed, and it was only halfway up the street when i remembered that i had forgotten to pack my camera.

so hurrah for saffron at writing on a paper napkin, for being the documentarian that she is, for it was she that sat waiting for me at passionflower yesterday lunchtime, and she who whipped out the camera when the ice creams arrived at the table. to make up for forsaking it the last time around, i had the rather unfortunately named “black and white seduction” — a tall glass of black ~~sticky rice~~ [edit: indeed, as saffron points out in her comment, it was actually black sesame ice cream, rich and nutty like a hilton sister] ice cream, coconut ice cream, black grass jelly and evaporated milk, which you can see left-most in saffron’s photographs. if i didn’t feel so bad about saying the name out loud, i would have it again without hesitation.

saffron has been leaving friendly comments here for ages, and it was pleasing to finally meet the lovely lass in person. there are real people on the internet! and they will bring you cupcakes!

posted by ragingyoghurt on 19 June 2005 at 9:02 pm

permalink | filed under around town, ice cream

i’d been meaning to make spanakopita for ages. what’s not to like? all crunchy pastry and salty fetta and dilly spinach. it seemed like the time was nigh when i walked past my local fruit shop and a table was piled high with $1.99 bunches of spinach. a week, two weeks, i walked by, always thinking, hmm… must get some filo pastry and then i’ll be set. already there was a block of fetta in my fridge.

so, wednesday i finally remembered to get a packet of filo at the supermarket, and went by the fruit shop, and the spinach was back up to $2.49. but it didn’t matter — i was on a mission! when i got home, with my filo and two bunches of spinach and a bunch each of dill and spring onion, i was quite unthrilled to read the side of the pastry packaging, which said: thaw completely at room temperature for at least four hours, or overnight in the fridge and then two hours at room temperature. hrm.

so, thursday, i googled “spanakopita recipe” and spent an hour or so walking in between the kitchen and the computer, being methodical. and then there it was: spanakopita. yummy, crunchy, salty, dilly spanakopita.

the dinner was made all the more pleasant by the prospect of cakes for dessert. mmm… plural cake. these were purpose-bought that afternoon at christopher’s cake shop, a tiny greek bakery behind taylor square. the evening’s selection included something which was a chocolate rum ball mixture coated in ground almond cake coated in dark chocolate, a cherry strudel, and a couple of things involving cake and ground almonds and filo. as you can see, there is no such thing as too much filo (or too much cake).

posted by ragingyoghurt on 11 June 2005 at 5:05 pm

permalink | filed under around town, cake, dinner, kitchen

i don’t suppose it would surprise you that i signed up to the friends of krispy kreme mailing list. every now and again they send me some junk email telling me about a new limited edition doughnut. this month it is the caramel crunch doughnut.

i found myself in the city again today, due to my mobile phone jumping out of my bag while we were at david jones yesterday; someone nicely handed it in at the cashier’s desk. of course had they decided to take the phone and ring up a great whopping bill, they would have discovered that i had all of $2.70 credits left. so, bah, there was no reason for me to upgrade to a shiny new phone with a colour screen and a camera. anyway, it’s not like i have a spare $500 lying around.

fortunately, this afternoon i had a spare $8.80, which is what four krispy kreme doughnuts — including a caramel crunch doughnut — cost. and suddenly there i was at the store, trying to wrestle the urban warrior pram up to the counter.

i’m not a fan of caramel, but i thought it was necessary to have one for research and documentation purposes. so. this is a yeasty doughnut filled with rather less caramel kreme than you’d hope for even if you weren’t a fan of caramel. the top is glazed with chocolate, and then sprinkled with crunchy bits. it was not as sweet as other kk doughnuts i’ve had (i usually go for the sugar glazed variety: the other three i got today were glazed sour cream, glazed devil’s food and glazed blueberry), and in fact it was a pleasant doughnut experience that i would repeat, especially with a cup of unsweetened black tea. perhaps next time i will try not to crumb all over my desk.

in short, it was rather like eating a golden gaytime, in doughnut form.

which reminds me, you can now get a tim tam cornetto, but having only seen billboards for this new product, i can only imagine that it would be somewhat less good than a tim tam, and possibly a little better than a regular cornetto. has anyone encountered one?

posted by ragingyoghurt on 2 June 2005 at 4:29 pm

permalink | filed under around town, snacks, something new

this morning, the first day of winter, i found myself in the city, walking briskly up the blustery corridor that is martin place. it wasn’t just the need to get out of the cold that spurred me on; specifically it was the need to get out of the cold and into the lindt shop. i believe the full and proper name for this establishment is “lindt concept store and café“.

[ the phrase “concept store” irritates me, alongside “free gift”, “authentic recipe”, “special collector’s issue” and “actual photos!”. the other month i saw a sign in a window amidst a fancy apartment complex, which said “concept store opening soon”, as though it didn’t matter what the store was selling. i suppose it is possible that they actually would be selling concepts. but i mean, a store that sells the stuff whose logo is out front! what a concept! rrrr. ]

the lindt shop’s been in business for months and months, but every time i’ve been past, it’s been closed. this would be acceptable if i showed up every tuesday at midnight, but i’ve only ever pressed my nose up to the cold and dark glass doors on weekend teatimes. today, aladdin’s cave finally opened. there were display cases along three walls (and a display island in the middle) and they all held chocolatey treasures that i wanted, all gloomy bear claws. in the end i showed moderate restraint, and when i stepped back out onto the street, i had a couple of madagascar dark chocolate truffles, a couple of pistachio truffles, a couple of 70% cocoa dark chocolate macaron, and a chocolate orange macaron. and a vanilla champagne macaron. and a dark hot chocolate, which was like drinking a hot lindor ball, mmm. like i said, moderate restraint.

what i left behind glass were: a raspberry-dark chocolate lindor ball, a creme brulee chocolate bar, an eclair, and a 70% cocoa dark chocolate tart adorned with a royal blue sash, like miss universe.

they will be mine, oh yes.

posted by ragingyoghurt on 1 June 2005 at 3:56 pm

permalink | filed under around town, chocolate, drink, grumble

you know that row of thai grocery shops near central? there’s one whose name is something like “lucky sweets and video”. i was lucky to find myself there on friday afternoon.

in the refrigerated shelf by the door there are boxes upon boxes of grilled pork on rice, or curried chicken on rice, or mixed vegetables and egg on rice, or fried fish on rice, or… anything and everything on rice. it’s like a magical wall made of plastic takeaway container bricks filled with exciting tasty treats. the thing is, if you make your way past this wanton (not wonton) display and get to the counter at the opposite end of the store, there is another magical wall, and this one is maybe even more magical because the takeaway containers are filled with desserts!

it is always so hard to choose: the coconut milk jellies? the steamed semolina cake? the black sticky rice topped with custard? the white sticky rice topped with a tantalising sprinkle of crushed up dried prawns and sugar? in fact, if you cannot decide between those last two, there is a box containing both, as well as a third yellow sticky rice covered in another dried prawn-sugar mixture. this one is orange, and spicy.

and so, the triple whammy sticky rice extravaganza was mine. mine on friday, saturday, sunday, and finally, today, monday, when the last slightly chewy grains were reluctantly and joyfully devoured.

i also had to try this: a wedge of pumpkin stuffed with eggy custard. i guess it was constructed by cleaning out the seeds of the pumpkin, filling it with custard and then steaming steaming steaming until the whole thing was soft. the custard, the pumpkin flesh, the pumpkin skin — all scoopable yum.

posted by ragingyoghurt on 30 May 2005 at 7:12 pm

permalink | filed under around town, cake, snacks

i have just been listening to “daisies of the galaxy” by eels, the first time in over a year. it is lovely and amazing, and i really should listen to my CDs more instead of having, like, dr phil on in the background during the day.

yesterday, i finally went back to yoga class. it has taken almost this long to get the kid to the stage where she might not have to eat for the duration of a yoga class and the walk to and fro.

there was a sense of trepidation: does nigh on seven months of no yoga render me all unpliable? could i muddle through a general class, or would i have to go back to beginners all over again?

as it turned out, joy, i could keep up with the generals, and all those months of pregnancy yoga meant that i could still squat like a chinaman during squatting pose. by the end of the class i was feeling rather good — muscles all warm and wobbly, like.

the best part about yoga is that it is just down the street from cafe banchetto, on devonshire, where some days you can get a takeaway sandwich with a large grilled mushroom in it.

there were other roasted vegetables thrown in as well, some salad greens and ricotta — see how the giant mushroom has left a fossilised imprint of itself in the creamy white. oh how it glistens!

posted by ragingyoghurt on 1 May 2005 at 1:57 pm

permalink | filed under around town, kid, lunch, soundtrack

what is better — and more efficient — than ice cream after lunch? i think you will agree that the answer is, “ice cream for lunch”.

when i met ana at passionflower at lunchtime, as planned, it transpired that she, feeling peckish a little earlier, had already eaten a crepe uptown. huh. it only briefly crossed my mind that i should maybe order something savoury and nutritious before having ice cream for dessert, but then i came to my senses: anything other than ice cream would take up too much ice cream space in my stomach.

the passionflower menu is the kind with pictures in it, which may or may not make things harder. when the waitress came ’round the third time to take our orders, i asked for the black and white seduction, but by the time anna had made her choice, i had already changed my mind. an eastern banana split, please!

see? it is a scoop of maccha ice cream, a scoop of taro ice cream, a scoop of sticky rice ice cream, a banana, lychee-orange compote and a waffle bowl. so that’s what a $12.50 dish of ice cream looks like.

passionflower went through a stage where it was like something had gone wrong in their freezer and made the ice cream less creamy and more icy, but now everything is well and good. they also have a flavour which wasn’t there the last time i visited — a while ago — lychee and rose petal. it is pink and creamy with bits of actual lychee mixed through. you can see a scoop of it there, across the table, in front of ana. it was yummy, and made me smile.

posted by ragingyoghurt on 1 May 2005 at 12:40 pm

permalink | filed under around town, ice cream, lunch

yesterday it was a rather overwhelming 31 degrees, sunny and humid. so there were no steamy bowls of hot soupy noodles at the end of the walk to chinatown as the sun began its descent. instead it was a large plate of vietnamese roast pork and barbeque pork and porky-glass-noodley garnish on rice — three kinds of pork! and tangy pickled carrot and um, radish? and sweet-salty fish saucy dip! slices of cucumber and tomato! how did they fit it all on the plate? how did this overladen plate fit onto the tray with the obligatory bowl of msg and spring onion soup, and a large plastic cup of dried longan drink? how did i eat it all?

i don’t know.

also, i don’t know how today it is 19 degrees and cloudy and drizzly, but it is the perfect weather for getting out of the chiller all those prawn heads left over from yesterday’s farewell-mother lunch, putting them in a pot with some garlic, and simmering away until a rather concentrated prawn stock results. this i will save in the freezer for a(nother) rainy day.

what with the oil burner i lit to temper the prawniness in the air, the house is now filled with a heady aroma of prawns and lavender. it really is not a bad thing.

posted by ragingyoghurt on 4 April 2005 at 11:12 am

permalink | filed under around town, lunch

this afternoon, a sunny sunday afternoon, around lunchtime, my little mother walked up the street to the fish shop in the mall to procure some prawns with which to fry up some kuay teow, penang style. on her way home, less than a block from the front door, a slightly built aboriginal youth with short curly hair and dressed in a red-and-white horizontally-striped shirt came up behind her, shoved her to the ground, grabbed her handbag and ran to the council flats a short distance away, from whence he was spirited away in a white car. people still push little old ladies down in the street? but she is resilient; hours later, after the police interview, the mugshot viewing, the walking up and down the neighbourhood streets in a vain attempt to find her handbag, she was frying up noodles at the stove. the bastard hadn’t taken the prawns.

posted by ragingyoghurt on 20 March 2005 at 10:37 pm

permalink | filed under around town, dinner, grumble

so. the thing about the ice cream sandwiches, is that the stall was manned by jeremy piven. ok, no, it was manned by a guy called patrick who resembles jeremy piven. there was nothing before him on the counter but a large container of marinated olives and gherkins (from the marinated olive and gherkin stall in the next aisle) which he ate with a toothpick. next to the counter was a freezer thingy.

he started making some “hi how are ya” smalltalk, but i couldn’t concentrate because i was distracted by the poster over the freezer thingy. six fat discs — six different ice cream sandwiches. i think he figured the only way to get my attention was to wave a small plate of samples in front of me. “this is our new flavour this month,” he said. “it’s banana ice cream and banana bread on the outside.”

nellie, come and have one immediately!

“oh i need one for the walk home,” i said, “but i don’t know which one to get.” there was a coffee one, a couple of vanillas (different cookies), a berry yoghurt…

“the double chocolate,” he said without hesitation. “if you like chocolate, get the double chocolate.”

“but the banana one was so banana-ey,” i said.

“but you’ve already tried that one. get the chocolate.”

“um.”

“the chocolate.”

so i did. it was belgian chocolate ice cream sandwiched between chewy chocolate cookies. it came, a neat package wrapped in paper. i held it for ten minutes, nurturing, anticipating, and then it was melty and creamy and good.

patrick lived in guangdong for a year, years ago. he speaks chinese, probably better than i do. his first ice cream machine was a handcranked rock salt and ice one. he makes his ice cream out of home. he’s on the verge of expanding, moving into premises. his partner in ice cream, the other guy pictured in the logo, is freakishly tall, maybe six-foot-nine, and is known as “stick”. all this you can find out while buying an ice cream sandwich.

posted by ragingyoghurt on 11 March 2005 at 10:14 pm

permalink | filed under around town, ice cream, snacks

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