バーニングブックス - burning books

音楽と人 August 2007 Ongaku to Hito - Mr.Children on the front cover @ $5.00

Ever since I have discovered Burning Books, run and owned by a lovely Japanese lady by the name of Noriko, I have been going there again and again.

I usually buy manga and secondhand magazines, but sometimes there are interesting things up for sale as well. As I am only buying these for reading material and practise recognizing kanji (and for entertainment), they need not to be expensive, unlike the ones I buy in Kanga Kanga for purely entertainment purposes.

Yep, I mostly only spend my money on books, Japanese magazines and manga :P What a nerd right?

香港　マカオ 2004-5 Hong Kong, Macau @ $3.00

Bought this as there is a slight chance I will be going to Hong Kong. Problem is it's an old edition and everything in there looks so old. Might get myself an updated version at the international airport...if I end up going. +1 for the map included. Hopefully the roads haven't changed much.

ヴァンパイア騎士 10 巻 Vampire Knight volume 1o @ $13.95

I think this is the only volume I have with the main girls on the front cover :) I want a Kain x Ruka cover xD

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Burning Books
122A Buckley Street
Footscray VIC 3011
(1 minute walk from Middle Footscray Station)

Opening hours: Tuesdays and Fridays 10 AM - 5 PM or by appointment.

Telephone: 0412-283-060

Website: http://www.burningbooks.com.au/

Email: info@burningbooks.com.au

面煎粿 - just an asian peanut pancake

A variety of names for this particular dessert? depending on where you live. If you are Singaporean you are most likely familiar with mee jian kuih, mian jian kuih, ban jian kueh etc. Whilst if you are Malaysian it's named something similar ; apom balek (balik?), ban chang kuih, man jian kuih, jin long bao (that's what I call it) etc. I reckon it's just how you pronounce the Chinese name 面煎粿, but to me it's just an Asian peanut pancake.

I lived in Malaysia when I was a kid for a year or so and fly there on a yearly basis. One of my favourite street hawker food was this peanut pancake. You can pretty much get them in any pasar malam (night markets). If you live in Malaysia, you should know that there is a famous peanut pancake stall on a Wednesday night? (I don't know if it's this night, but it's the biggest pasar malam of the week) It's so famous there's a massive queue every time! But the wait is worth it :D

Makes me await going to Malaysia in less than 2 months :)

When making local food from a particular country, I prefer to looking for the original recipe, meaning someone who lives in that country made it (does it make sense?) I stumbled across Piggy's Cooking Journal's recipe and decided to use her recipe.

It wasn't that hard after all and tastes almost like the real thing, just missing those crispy edges!

Adding the batter to the pan

I let the pancake set too much before adding the fillings in :(

Should be easy to flip if you greased the pan properly

Perfect for a family of 4 :)

I didn't have plain flour so I used self raising flour and added the raising agents which is probably why mine looks thicker that the one in Piggy's Cooking Journal. I reduced the sugar and didn't grind the peanuts that much.

Tastes almost like the real thing, highly recommend it and will most definitely will make this again and again and again! It's so yummy :D

Recipe used <- click!

cheesy vegetable and bacon slice

This was one of the recipe featured in the leaflets available in Coles. As it is nearly back to school for Victorian students, Coles teamed up with Nutrition Australia (Not For Profit Organisation) to create healthy box lunches under $3.

Well, I had a look at the leaflet and had go at the cheesy vegetable and bacon slice which turned out quite nice, frittata like. I had all the ingredients on hand so I just mixed everything in. As it finished baking, I suddenly realised I forgot to add in two ingredients - milk and flour! I also halved the recipe, so the mixture was quite watery therefore not spoon-able like the recipe says.

But it still turned out edible which was all it mattered :) It was hearty eaten warm, but tastes just as good when it's cooled.

I should read the recipe more carefully, because I doubt the next time I will be lucky. But I don't think I am going to add in the ingredients I forgot for next time :P

Here's the original recipe, if you are interested:

Cheesy Vegetable and Bacon Slice
reproduced from the Coles recipes leaflet

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Delicious and easy, this recipe tastes even better the next day.

Ingredients:
serves 8

• 1 Tb oil (olive or canola)
• 1 medium brown onion
• 3 rashers bacon, chopped (fat removed)
• 1 1/2 cups frozen carrots, peas and corn
• 5 extra large eggs
• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 1/4 cup light milk
• 1 cup light tasty cheddar cheese, grated

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius conventional/ 150 degrees Celsius fan forced.
2. Heat oil in a frying pan and cook onions and bacon for 3-4 minutes until softened and bacon is slightly crispy.
3. Add peas and corn and cook for 2 minutes, stirring to thaw. Remove mixture to a bowl.
4. Mix remaining ingredients in a large bowl and mix in bacon/vegetable mixture.
5. Season with pepper and spoon into a greased and lined 28cm x 18cm brownie/slice pan.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden and puffed.
7. Remove gently and cool in fridge.
8. Cut into slices