Chocolateria San Churro

I am rarely a chocolate person but the previous few weeks had proven otherwise and strangely enough, I have not reached the can't-handle-it stage yet. The last place on my itinerary would be San Churros in Chinatown. I have been to the San Churros in Rundle Street before but for convenience sake, Chinatown's a much more do-able spot for me.

There are quite a few options to choose from which did not make my job any easier. One can opt for chocolate-y cakes, ice cream, fondues, parfaits and the list goes on. Seeing as I am on a churros craze at the moment, I steered towards that path whilst quickly shutting away all the other options. Perhaps another time?

Chocolate macaron ~ I have wanted to have their chocaron (macaron dipped in chocolate) but my order probably got mixed up and I ended up with this fella. Not too bad, decent me thinks.

Peanut butter besos ~ I am a huge fan of peanut butter inspired sweets and this was no exception to the list. It was rich, decadent and very sinful. But heck with that, I would definitely order this again and I could easily down this within 5 minutes.

Churros with milk chocolate and dark chocolate ~ The churros here are a bit more bigger than I had expected. It is prepared upon order and thankfully, had no signs of being burnt whatsoever. A nice treat to have on a warm day and if you are here with about 3 other people, why not order the large churros platter? Nibbles and small talk seems to be my kind of thing these days;)

p.s: apologies for the meh picture quality. I would love to whip out my normal camera but due to time constraints, this won't be possible until I get back from my trip. On the flip side, be on the lookout for another travel diary blog post:)

December to march mobile uploads: food, product haul, clothes, places

This has got to be one of the most overdue mobile uploads. I must have been overly boggled down with other blog posts that I forgot to include a snippet of my life here...well, not that it really matters anyways but there are some nice pictures from my weekly wandering around Adelaide:)

No.5 houses this uber addictive coffee bean chocolate and in my opinion, you simply cannot miss this place if you are in Hahndorf.

Rundle Street has always been known as a slightly more posh part of Adelaide. Lots of dessert cafes and yummy restaurants located on this street.

On days when I feel like having rice, I must have bibimbap, one of my favourite Korean rice dishes that has a few ingredients perfectly arranged in a bowl. Bottoms up!

Gelatissimo will always be one of my go-to gelato places in Adelaide. Various flavours to choose from and most of the times, friendly staff service:)

Connoisseur ice cream is indeed for the gourmet foodies out there. It is about $2 more expensive that some of the other ice cream ranges but at times, you can grab a good bargain if it's on special in your local supermarket. The exotic flavours are seldom on special but they are worth a try if your grocery budget allows it:)

One cannot go to the Adelaide's central market without squeezing in time to visit the market bakeries. Delight yourself in either a croissant, danish pastry, mini tarts or even traditional sweets like balaklava.

Most of you should know by now that I love clothes. This item from Saints and Secrets in Myers was too pretty to resist but sadly, I doubt I'll be wearing it anytime soon due to lack of events in my dairy =/

Bing Boy is easily spotted in most food courts and for about $8, your food will be freshly prepared in front of you in less than 5 minutes.

Coffee talks at Bar 9. Favourite place to have brekkie for special occasions or when I feel like having something sweet for brekkie:)

Vietnamese bahn mi aka bread roll. It's usually a baguette shaped bread that is stuffed with pickled vegetables, roasted meat (chicken or pork) and given a good squirt of chilli sauce. Finger licking good and ideal for those on the go.

I am obsessed with this forever new heart blouse!!

Vietnamese pancake atNghi Ngan Quan, filled with loads of vegetables such as bean sprouts, lettuce, pickles and slices of meat or prawns. Very filling and probably not something to order if you are a small eater.

Black star pastry's rosewater watermelon cake third attempt. So much better than the previous two attempts:)

Macarons and mimco freebies. I love my life.

Green tea cookies with bits of white chocolate.

Notice how good the watermelon cake looks? I managed to bake the dacquoise layers at the right temperature and put a lot of effort into grinding those almonds!!

A day in the kitchen.

Was at crown plaza adelaide for some company dinner bites. Yummo!

An autographed cook book by Callum Hahn. Happiness overloaded.

Was at Pho Han to satisfy a craving for Vietnamese cuisine.

And to sign off from today's post, a selfie of your's truly in a Zara ensemble. Love Zara but if only they had more choices here in Adelaide.

Chinese pork dumplings recipe

Just a few more days until I am officially going away for a much deserved holiday and honestly, I am bursting with excitement, so much that I am suffering from writer's block. Gah. So this is me distracting myself by conjuring up another blog post that is worthy to try out in your kitchen.

Dumplings or wontons are the easiest little things to prepare in the kitchen and even if you are not perfect with your measurements, they will somehow still turn out alright. Probably a fun kitchen activity for kids and adults alike and.... you can hide a few veggies in each of them without any obvious signs!

My recipe is rather simple but feel free to add any whacky ingredient that comes to mind (as long as it's fits the Asian theme..don't think chorizo or blue cheese might fit in well but if you do try it out, lemme know how it went!).

Ingredients (serves 4 people):
1kg pork mince
A thumb of garlic, finely minced
6 cloves of garlic, finely minced
10 medium sized shittake mushrooms, soaked in water and chopped finely
1 long red chilli, finely minced (more if you prefer it spicy)
A bunch of spring onions, finely chopped
4 tbsp of soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp shaoxing wine
A packet of ready made wonton wrappers
Salt and pepper to taste

All you need to do is mash all the ingredients together and allow to marinate overnight. The following day, place a tsp of the marinated pork mince into the wrapper (more or less depending on what size you prefer), and add it to a pot of boiling water.

Once it begins to "float" in the pot, dish out.

You can use a range of other ingredients such as lap cheong (chinese sausage), carrots, prawns, wood fungus or chestnuts if you prefer. The options are endless, really :)

I like to serve dumplings with blanched bok choy and noodles that have been tosses in  1 tsp of sesame oil, 1 tsp oyster sauce, 3 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp dark soy sauce and 1/2 tsp sugar :)

St. Louis House of Fine Ice Cream and Dessert

The last time I was here (as seen on this post), you probably guessed that I had an average experience...but because I am a sugar addict and I am clearly obsessed with sweets, I decided to pop by again but this time, try out something different.

Previously, I was craving for waffles but at this very moment, I am clueless and spent what felt like 10 minutes flipping through the menu, trying to decide what to have. Admittedly, most of the sweets listed sounds tempting which probably did not help at all:/ Somehow, the list was shortlisted according to my budget and current diet (trying to limit sugar intake before my overseas trip) and a decision was made.

Chocolate croissant ~ the chocolate band around the croissant reminded me of Pierre Herme's green tea croissant and to be honest, it looked very impressive. Sliced into it and was secretly delighted to be greeted by a lovely waft of buttery, flaky layers that tastes sooo good when dunked into dark chocolate. I assumed it would have tasted a lot more "fresh-er" when it first came out from the oven but at 9pm, doubt I'll be whinging.

Churros for two ~ I think I have revived my liking for churros. It was freshly made to order and had a nice crunchy exterior and soft, pillow-y interior which are well coated with cinnamon sugar for a unique spice flavour. Dipped this into the melted dark chocolate and I was transported into chocolate heaven. Definitely worth a try if you do visit St. Louis (and do not forget about their finger licking yummy ice cream flavours:)

Sunday satisfaction achieved. Perhaps I should have shot down the dark chocolate mix. Any thoughts? :)

p.s: these photos were taken using my iPhone..couldn't manage to bring down my main camera due to time constraints.

Salad 101: Pumpkin and apple quinoa salad recipe

Salads have always been an alien term to me as I cannot seem to find an appreciation for a bowl of leaves sprinkled with colour. Not that I am against it but I think a good salad has to be prepared with lots of thought on the flavour combinations as well as smart play on textures.

I am beginning to play with the idea of preparing salads for lunch these days and so far, have conjured up a handful of recipes that may be a success if done well. What I liked about this salad is that it has a nice balance of sweetness from the pumpkin and apple which lends flavour to the quinoa and spinach leaves whilst the balsamic vinaigrette provided the much needed acidity to it.

Ingredients (serves 2):
600g pumpkin, cubed
1/2 cup of quinoa
2 apples, cubed
700g spinach leaves

1. Roast pumpkin  rubbed with olive oil and sea salt at 150C for 25 minutes or until it softens slightly.
2. Wash quinoa and cook it as you do with rice.
3. Soak cubed apples in 1 tsp of honey dissolved in about 500ml of water. This reduces the rate at which the apple browns.
4. Wash spinach leaves.

Vinaigrette ingredients:
10ml of good quality olive oil
1 tsp of dijon mustard
2 tbsp of good quality balsamic vinegar
Salt, pepper and sugar to taste

1. Whisk ingredients together whilst slowly incorporating the olive oil. Set aside when ready to dress the salad.

It was that simple and to dress the salad, I placed all the ingredients in a suitable sized container, closed it and gave it a good shake to distribute the flavours. Pretty easy and surely a crowd winner:)

Ky Chow Restaurant

What does one do when Adelaide is packed full of visitors from various parts of Australia and noting that it is a long weekend off for most of us? Well, the answer would be to avoid stepping into Rundle Street because it is not a place for the weak. Endless streams of pedestrians trot around that street and each restaurant was filled to the brim with diners.

I ventured out early to have a peak at this year's fringe festival and having to brave the festival crowd, I still managed to whiz my way to Chinatown without too much difficulty. Chinatown was perhaps not as busy compared to Rundle Street but they still did have a good customer turnover rate considering that it was a Sunday.

We decided to dine at Ky Chow just because we have not been here for a while and that I was craving for mapo tofu. Do be mindful that portion size is smaller here compared to other restaurants but I think the quality of the dishes served here are better. Also, this place does not open till late so best to ring up to check what time they close if you are planning to come here for a late dinner.

String beans in XO sauce ~ beans were not soggy or overcooked and had a good amount of seasoning in it. Not bad at all.

Mapo tofu with prawns ~ you have the option of having this with either prawns or meat but prawns are our favourite choice hands down. Tofu was silky smooth and prawns were fresh. The sauce may look spicy to some but in fact, it is far from it. Good balance of acidity it has:)

Bay berry duck ~ duck meat was juicy and still soft but would have liked a bit more punch of flavour from the sauce. It did not overpower the taste of the duck and one could still subtly taste the herbs used to concoct the sauce.



Below are some pictures taken from this year's fringe festival. It was extremely crowded and I found it difficult to snap pictures without having someone hijack my pictures:S