Dinner @ Sydney Indulgence

Last weekend, my husband and I were invited to a very special dinner. We were really looking forward for the dinner because it wasn't just a simple friends gathering dinner, but it was a special dinner hosted by my fellow dessert blogger 'Sydney Indulgence' and her husband (F and A), who happened to be a very close friend of ours. After salivating over the desserts I've seen on her blog all this while, I was particularly excited for the desserts.

With the cosy ambience of their home as well as a customised 3 course menu printed for the night (just like the one you find in restaurants), I felt like walking in to a private restaurant reserved specially just for us. It was a quite and intimate dinner, not only was the food delicious, the conversation and the company were great too.

Starter: German Brown Sourdough with French Butter. 

What could be better than having a warm sourdough with a quality French butter? The answer is 'Nothing'.

Entree: Stuffed Zucchini Flowers

F told me that this Zucchini Flowers were inspired by Jamie Oliver. Stuffed with Ricotta cheese, parmesan, mint, chillies and lemon, she has definitely made Jamie Oliver proud with this dish, as it was really delicious. My husband who is usually very conservative with his food agreed that this crispy zucchini flower was a 5 star food. I would recommend you guys to try out this dish, I'm sure it won't be hard to find the recipe online.

Main: Organic Duck Fillet Pasta 

The Fettuccine was cooked in duck sauce, accompanied with a well marinated organic duck and ceps wild mushroom. It was the first time me and my husband heard of ceps mushroom. The mushroom was really rich in flavour and creamy in texture.

Side Dish: Caramalised Baby Carrots

F can reads my mind, because carrot is my favourite! These lovely orange vegetables were roasted with thymes and garlics.

Side dish: Oven-roasted Truffle Chips

Everybody loves chips! F has reinvented the traditional chips by adding some truffle oil, which gave a nice earthy flavour to the incredibly crispy chips.
We were surprised by the crispiness of the potatoes and F told us that she bought the potatoes from Eveleigh market, I forgot what's the name of the potato but she told us that there are so many different type of gourmet potatoes available at the market. I think I should really make a trip there to check out all the goodies.

Desserts

**Drum roll** Finally the most anticipated moment of the night, F serving what she is best at...Desserts.

There was not only one dessert, there were two!The desserts for the night were:

Vanilla Creme Brulee with Passionfruit and Pecan & Chocolate Tart.

 

The Vanilla Creme brulee with Passionfruit really suits my taste bud, as it's not overly sweet with a hint of sourness and freshness of passionfruit. It was a refreshing dessert to complete the meal. 

Find the recipe of this sweet and sour dessert here.

Then came the Pecan and Chocolate Tart served with creme fraiche on the side. The original recipe was to use golden syrup but F replaced it with maple syrup which worked really well, as me and my husband love maple syrup. With the goodness of chocolate and nuts on top of a buttery pastry, this was a dessert worthy of those hours spent in the gym.

If you like to try this recipe, you can find it here.

 

Thanks to Sydney Indulgence (F) and her husband (A) for their warmest and most generous hospitality. 

The dinner was excellent and it has certainly inspired me to try out new recipes and open up my abandoned Jamie Oliver cookbook. 

Have you eaten?

To say that food is a basic necessity is just to state the obvious.  I think food is more than just for survival, it becomes much more than that. Indeed, the most common greeting in chinese culture is not "How are you?" but it's "Have you eaten?".  Food has become part of our culture and tradition. Whenever there is celebration there's food, whether it's big, small or just a friendly gathering, there's food.

It has become an occasion of sharing and giving. It is an event where family/friends come together.

My cousin actually asked me few months ago if I could cook for her when she comes, of course without hesitation I said "Yes".  I guess when you have been around the world, and tasted the best food the world has to offer, you will eventually  miss a humble homemade cooking.

When I invite guests over to my place, I tend to be very fastidious. I always ended up cooking much more than is required. I guess when it comes to food my philosophy is 'More is always better than less'.

Thanks to HW that bought over some satays and stir fry water spinach from our favourite Indonesian restaurant, Ayam Goreng 99.

It was a Festive dinner with mixture of Indonesian, Malaysian, Thai and Chinese food.

 Malaysian Chicken Curry (perfect with steamed bun)

Steamed Tom Yum Fish with Minced Pork

 Prawn Scrambled Egg

Thai Chilli Chicken Basil

Braised Pork in Soya Suace (Tau Yu Bak)

       (Left) Seaweed Soup      (Right) Homemade Sambal Terasi

A meal is never complete without a dessert! I prepared a very refreshing fruit and jelly punch to wash out the tasty meal.

We had so much food, we could probably feed a soccer team.

Oh well... at least everyone was full! 

So when is your next gathering?

Diving Into The World of Blogosphere

After years of having the habit of reading food blogs and trying new food, I figured that it is probably time that I dive into the world of blogosphere myself. As a food lover, I love to eat, I love to cook and I love to take pictures of food. This blog is not about finding the best or worst food, as I'm not a professional, it is simply about sharing my dining experience with everyone through words and photos. I hope people might get some good insight of a place to eat through this blog. So, Lets start dating with food!