Merry Christmas to All!

To Our Dearest Readers.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Joyous, Peaceful, Safe and Fulfilling New Year!

Thank you for being such great supporters of TheWayItCrumbles since it first opened in the middle of the year. You have all encouraged us to write more, improve my photography, eat more (^^!) and actually learn to cook. To the foodblogging community of Sydney, thankyou for making us feel welcome, and for introducing us to Adriano Zumbo, and a host of other places which we have/will visit and definitely enjoy/ed.

In case you haven’t noticed yet, we have a new site which is undergoing renovations at the moment. Please take a gander over at http://blogs.thewayitcrumbles.com, and do try to duck if the walls fall down – We promise we’ll fix them soon! (…okay too many feathered puns in that ^^;;;;). Update your links, we’ll be back to regular posting very soon, and hopefully have a few treats for you all in the next couple months =)

Take care, and enjoy the rest of the Joyous Season.

See you soon!

Love,

Tim & Chris

P.S. Tora wants ‘in’ too! He’s eyeing the Pocky we just posted over here!

 

Roses and Wine

Ok, so the title had absolutely nothing to do with this post – it was just something to get your attention… the geekier among you might identify where it comes from though…

Worst yet, my last ‘post’ was a fraud, perpetrated by Chris, so I shall betray now the fact that I don’t actually have the technical skills to get a photo into a post since WordPress was upgraded… xD

But don’t let that stop you from visiting http://blogs.thewayitcrumbles.com – if you think it looks a bit familiar, then you’re probably right.  Change your bookmarks, invite yourselves in and make yourselves at home – the hostess herself will be there shortly.

 

Ichi-Ban Boshi – The Galeries Victoria, Sydney

Having heard numerous reviews about this place, particularly its tendency to be packed out, we came hungry and eager and early. The wait wasn’t too long for our party of 3, which was good, but granted, we arrived very shortly after 12, and it was already full, with a waiting list of about 4 tables. Thankfully, service was fairly prompt and unobtrusive, topping up water glasses discreetly, and bringing out orders relatively quickly.

Shio Butter Ramen, with extra Pork

Tim’s bowl – he had apparently been on the previous Saturday (without telling me, or taking photos!), and had ordered the Shio Ramen, in case I scolded him for the added butter. Naturally, I demanded he get it this time, so I could try some xD. The extra pork was needed – as you can see from the bowl below, the bowls ordinarily come with just one piece of pork, which is so not enough, given the size of the bowl. Extra pork (4 slices) will cost you though, but is worth sharing. The butter added a touch of decadence to the fairly good bowl of soup, a little more depth, and went particularly well with the sweet corn. Tim wasn’t sure it was worth the extra $1.50 though, compared to the original Shio Ramen.

Very Hot Ramen

B hasn’t been on one of our foodie trips before, and looked slightly bemused as I whipped out a camera and took a shot of his bowl before he had even picked up his chopsticks. He said that the ‘Very Hot’ ramen, was indeed, very hot, and finished it, soup and all.

Karaage Ramen

Mine! I haven’t had ramen for a while, and this was very much one of the better examples I’ve tried. The soup was savoury and unami-laden, and noodles deliciously slurpable. The karaage chicken was so-so – nice and crisp before soaking up the soup and tender on the inside, but could so totally be jazzed up a little. I didn’t get as much corn, or any beansprouts as Tim, which made me ‘sadface’, but stealing some from him made my meal feel a little more balanced.

In general, it’s a good eat, and I can see why it’s popular. I can’t help but feel distinctly ripped off though, particularly with the cost of toppings (or lack thereof). One of my major complaints about a popular Vietnamese Pho Restaurant is its exuberant pricing on extras, and Ichi-Ban Boshi has a little of the same feel, although the serving sizes themselves are quite reasonable. Other than that, look at paying between $10 to $14 for a bowl of ramen. Not quite uni-student fare, but otherwise very much passable.

 

(not)Salad Days – A day with Ms Music

The Lindt Cafe is a haven in a city of bustle and business. Not as ‘cozy’ as Max Brenners or San Churros, but polished and well matched to the suits which cue up for coffee and hot chocolates, it is a place we frequent often. My trip with Ms Music was the first time I sampled any of the cakes on display, though truffles, delices and drinks have all found a happy home with me. 

Passion – A dark chocolate caramel mousse & a zesty passion fruit mousse layered with chocolate sponge that has been soaked in passion fruit puree. $11.00

My pick. I love this particular flavour combination, and would love to try to recreate it. I was disappointed with the chocolate shards around though, too obviously refrigerated and flavourless compared to what I expect of Lindt chocolate, and the value…well…definitely to be a rare treat, I think.

Celebration du Chocolat – Layers of dark chocolate cake & fine milk chocolate mousse, encased by a chocolate ganache and ribbons of milk and dark chocolate. $11.50

Ms. Music’s pick. Apparently surprisingly light and un-rich, she seemed quite pleased with this pick. 

Level 1, 53 Martin Place 
Sydney, NSW, 2000.

Phone (02) 8257 1600

 

le fraisier, the failure

I’m not having a particularly good run of cooking recently. Perhaps it is the maternal figure continually nagging me to go learn how to do things properly, or the numerous ‘I told you you should have done this’ (and not from my own head, I’ve long learned to block that out).

Anyway, this sad attempt looks pretty, and the strawberries were awesome – heady scents, and sweet, straight from the farm. On the downside, the genoise was dense, with large rough crumbs and eggy, while the mousseline…well…where to begin with the mousseline.

My first attempt at making the pastry cream flopped. It resulted in a pastry cream so bouncy and thick, I could imagine it talking back. Yes, it had that much attitude. I tried salvaging it by adding milk a little at a time, and it eventually smoothed out again. Which made for a decent pastry cream, but didn’t come together as a mousseline upon adding butter the next day.

The second attempt looked reasonable, but was possibly undercooked, and ended up too runny, and not setting. So, it went into the freezer so I could get a reasonable shot, but someone tilted it before it had frozen, so that the surface wasn’t smooth anymore.

Once out of the freezer, it melted really quickly, and was too sweet for my liking (which says a lot, seeing what a sweet tooth I have).

I don’t want to give up, it’s such a beautiful cake, so I’m putting a call out – Any suggestions, recipes, tips and hints to make this work?

 

a day for you

30.11.08
This is a road to somewhere. We’ll never really know where. But we can dream. And we can travel onwards, together.

But what’s a foodblog without food? More chocolates from the Adriano Zumbo Chocolate Cafe.

 

A Day out with Ms Chocolate

Having finished uni for the year, I feel the need to catch up with my friends – so I present to you a series of “(not)Salad Days” – because we most likely will not be eating salad 😉 I spent the day with Ms Chocolate.

We visited the new Regent Shopping Centre behind the KFC at Town Hall, and spent over an hour and a half in the grocery store!

 

Home made, home baked…half baked?

“So…start talking.”

I have never worked with yeast before. Ever since taking up my food blog stalking reading habits however, I’ve grown more and more ambitious, ever tempted by crunchy looking crusts, and tender, air-pocket strewn crumbs. And so, I tried. Using the pizza dough recipe from Peter Reinhart’s Bread Baker’s Apprentice, which was used by the Daring Bakers a few months ago.

Lessons learned before going into the oven:

a) No matter how good someone is at maths, make them take out a set of scales and actually *weigh* the flour.

b) Double check amount of flour in the recipe before dumping it into the bowl.

c) Even if a recipe says the dough will be sticky, it should still not be pourable. See a) for why it is pourable.

d) Trust the weather forecast. Have something that will warm the area enough for the yeast to rise on standby.

e) A table lamp is probably not adequate for anything more than interrogation.

f) Flour is your best friend, when the dough seems to be binding itself at a molecular level to anything it comes in contact with.

g) Don’t go out the day you try to make pizza for dinner, when you’ve never done it from scratch in your life.

 

‘Ed…it’s twins! but…’ Adriano Zumbos – Balmain

Adriano Zumbo’s new collection was released yesterday, so we made a quick(ish) trip to Balmain to check it out. The haul was quite extensive, with ‘lunch’ at the Cafe being an extra splurge.

Instore Goodies:

We managed to get a list of most of the goodies that will be appearing at the counter this season, but these are so new that most of them don’t even have names or labels yet! The staff were very helpful in describing them to us. 

 

San Churros – Glebe

Well, more like the hidden depths of Glebe. The last stop on our day at the Glebe Street Fair, by this time, we were full, tired, and sore. But there’s always room for chocolate, and we felt the need to do our foodie duties…;)

The interior is a little similar to Max Brenners, albeit with a distinctly aged Spanish theme – warm and comforting, padded seats (bliss!), wooden furniture and dimmed lighting. Didn’t quite have the polish of the Lindt cafes, but welcoming none the less.