teppanyaki

3 weeks just went like that! Before the Sydney-sider relatives returned to their homeland, we indulged in a grand feast for dinner at a teppanyaki house in a private room. Luxurious seafood, game, wagyu, fried rice catching, entertaining chefs! One of the best meals I've had this year!

I personally recommend the black cod fish and duck breast.

"Garlic butter is the secret to teppanyaki.", is what two chefs told me. 

The cousin and aunt will be missed by all. But we will party again, once HSC ends.

***

Burwood Teppanyaki House

a day off

Slept until the afternoon was going to arrive! Munched on vanilla ice cream cones with homemade caramel cream sauce (my phobia of making caramel has gone!) for lunch and played Wii with the cousin and sister until dinner time.

Remember those pizza nights that you share with friends during camp and talk about everything? We had one at the local pizzeria with us 3 kids and 2 adults last night.

Fun times.

***

homemade caramel cream sauce

ingredients:makes approx. 1 cup (250 ml)

• 200 g caster sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 300 ml thickened cream

method:

1. Boil cream in a small saucepan and retain heat.
2. In another saucepan, dissolve sugar and caster sugar over low heat, stirring gradually.
   When the sugar crystals has dissolved, switch the high heat and let it bubble until part of it begins to change into a golden colour.
   Gently move the saucepan up and down to even the colour of the sugar syrup.
   When it reaches an amber, dark golden brown colour, slowly pour in the warm cream (be careful of splatter!)
3. Stir the cream and the caramel together until the two have combined. Simmer until the liquids has reduced by half.
4. Cool before pouring it into a glass jar. Serve with ice cream, pancakes, waffles etc.

point nepean

Spent the Sunday with the family and relatives roaming coastal Victoria. The (apparently 8 km return) hike from Gunner's Cottage to Fort Nepean via various pit stops such as (Observatory Point, Cheviot Hill, Harold Holt Memorial, Fort Pearce etc.) was one of the highlights! Luckily the weather was cloudy and cool.

Family bonding and sightseeing (rocks).

Although cooped in a sedan throughout the day, us kids drifted off to sleep despite full of energy after the hike.

fun in the park

So it seems my food blog has turned into a photo blog recently. Not to worry, it will revert itself eventually when I get the kitchen back :)

twenty eleven

For those who commented in the previous post, thank you for taking the time to do so :)

Like every other year, the new year starts off with a bang! Fortunately for me this year, there were people lighting fireworks on my street, so I was able to capture some interesting shots. Couldn't see the ones from the city that much this year from the balcony :(

I never knew shooting fireworks was so difficult. Thing is, you have to be fast and focus in the dark.

I had my Nikon on the tripod attached with the 55-200mm lens with manual focusing and had lief92's Mamiya film camera around my neck. While the shutter was going off, I was busy winding the film like crazy! Hopefully when developed, they turn out ok.

Too bad the digital shots didn't turn out that well, there were many blank shots or fireworks that were too much on the side (therefore the necessity to crop). But, there's always next year to further improve my skills.

Thank you for reading in 2010. Looking forward to bring more food and photos in the new year :)