Twelve Cupcakes!

In recent years, cupcakes are getting to be very popular, so much so that there are now specialty shops selling cupcakes alone. Normally I am not one for cupcakes because I always find them overpriced for something so small. I rather eat a normal cake that is more value for money.

However when I came across Twelve Cupcakes, I decided to try it out to see what the hype is about. And guess what? I fell in love with it! The cupcakes are so creamy and smooth that one can tell they only use good quality ingredients and real good baking skills. There is no hardness anywhere, the cupcakes are soft and moist. Furthermore, they have a variety of flavours, including their hot favourite Red Ruby.

 

This Christmas I had a gathering with the girls. So I ordered the Christmas box set of twelve cupcakes, consisting of chocolate, pistachio, cookies and cream, and red ruby. My friends were raving over them!

The Christmas box set. Most were gone within a few minutes.

 

I will highly recommend a box of cupcakes from Twelve Cupcakes for any function. So far all those I have given to all rave about how nice the cupcakes are. Bear in mind that these cupcakes are expensive though, so unless you are super rich, these should be saved for special occasions and functions and not all the time.

 

Now I only wish I can bake cupcakes like these!

Food For Thought @ Queen Street

Last night I met my friend at this new place called Food For Thought, near both our offices. This is a relatively new place serving fusion food. The menu looks interesting enough!

 

I ordered the steak and she ordered the chicken cutlet. When the steak arrived, it looked just like what I thought - medium, with sides of fries and salad. Her chicken cutlet is crunchy and tasty.

My steak

 



J's chicken cutlet

 

The interior of the restaurant has a pretty unique decoration. It is a pretty cosy place for casual dates, gatherings and meet ups. The food and pricing are not too bad too! I would want to come here again if I have the chance!

 

 

Food : 3.5 out of 5

Ambience : 4 out of 5

Price : 3.5 out of 5

Service : 3.5 out of 5

$10 Angus Steak In Sydney

Can you get $10 Angus steak anywhere? I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the sign when I embarked at Darling Harbour! Apparently it is some lunch special that they do serve medium Angus steak with a dash of salad for only A$10!

I went into the restaurant and enquired, and true to their word, the Angus steak was really only A$10! But that would just be the main course, not the set. Since it is such a good deal, I decided to order the steak.

 

However, the steak is not as big as I thought. I guess for A$10, what can one expect right? And the medium steak I ordered is more well done than medium. In fact, the salad side looks bigger than the steak itself!

 

I took a bite and the steak tasted a bit burnt. So it is well done after all, not medium as I ordered. It was quite a disappointment, but since I was hungry, I just ate up the whole piece. As I said, one should not expect much for A$10.

Angus steak with side salad

 

Still it was a good lunch. Sitting alfresco at a restaurant in Darling Harbour, overlooking the waterfront, enjoying a piece of steak, now that is a blissful life indeed!

Drinking Tea In Leura

There is this little quaint village around the Blue Mountains region of Sydney called Leura. It is really a cosy place to live in as it reminds me of a little English village. In this village, there is a Treasured Teapot Museum, where teapots of all kinds of variety are on display and sale. There is even a little cafe for guests to have their English afternoon tea.

 

I stepped in there after my Blue Mountains trip to enjoy their Devonshire Cream Tea. The interior is so pretty and the display really captivate my attention!

Some of the teapot displays

 



I really like this country style tea set!

 



The fireplace

 



The menu, which I fell in love with

 



My Devonshire Cream Tea set

 

True to style, the Devonshire cream tea set consists of English tea (what else?!) served in a pot, with a little jug of milk, scones, cream and jam spread. Delicious, and just the way I like! However, I would prefer it better if the tea set also comes with a quaint container for sugar cubes. That would be more authentic.

 

I would recommend going to the Treasured Teapot Museum if you are ever going to the Blue Mountains region of Sydney. Even if not for the tea, the teapot display, as well as the surroundings are really pretty!



The Biggest Burger Ever!

On my last day in Canberra, my brother took me to a burger place where he professed they serve the biggest burger ever. The place is just next to the Canberra Glassworks, called Brodburger. Since it was a Friday afternoon, the place was packed with people on their lunch breaks. We had to wait for a while before being able to get a place, and even then we had to be out in the sun. It was a particularly hot day that day.

We went in to make our orders. My brother ordered for me the bacon burger, which is supposed to be the smallest size already, but I still find it big. After ordering, we went to our seats and one of the staff then served us our food a few minutes later.

The burger is really big! I cannot even bite it in my mouth even when my mouth was opened to the fullest! I had to eat layer by layer. That is how big it is. I wonder how the others manage to eat like that? Perhaps they have bigger mouths than me.

We also ordered large fries to go along with the burger. After just half way through the burger, I was so full that I could not eat anymore! I had to pack it back for dinner that night. Unfortunately, I was still so full from lunch that I had to force myself to finish up the burger for dinner.

 

It was really the biggest and nicest burger ever! Now why can we not have burgers like these back here?

Partaking An Australian BBQ

On my second day in Canberra, I visited a farm where there is a kind of an outback experience, complete with a barbecue lunch and boomerang throwing. The barbecue consists of big sausages, steak, salad, potato and drinks. A staff was on hand to barbecue the meat for us.

 Sizzling of the barbecue

 

My barbecue lunch of steak, sausage, potato, bread with butter and salad

 

It was a really delicious Australian barbecue. After all, what can go wrong with a little outback experience and having the rugged life? One must partake a real Australian barbecue when one is there!

Attempting To Fry Noodles In Canberra

When I was in Canberra recently, I ate at least one packet of instant noodles daily, either for supper or breakfast. My brother stocked up on Mie Gepeng, Indonesian noodles, so I helped myself to a few packets.

 

Living in the hostel, there are almost no facilities for real cooking. Hence I had to make do with whatever that was available. Luckily, the noodles are mee goreng style, so I need not worry about hot soup and water.

 

The instant mee goreng I am used to is you cook it in water, then drain the water out and pour the noodles into a bowl, then mix the ingredients and seasoning together. However, for Mie Gepeng, you put all the seasoning into the bowl first, and then drain the noodles over it after it is cooked.

 

Since there was no pan or pot available in the small kitchenette, I had to cook the noodles in the microwave oven. After boiling in the water for three minutes, I had to then drain the water out. Since there was no strainer available, I had to pour the whole bowl of water into the sink, at the same time trying not to let any of the noodles come out. It is not as easy as it sounded! More often than not, some of the noodle strands fell out and I had to scoop them out again.

 

When the water was finally drained, I poured the noodles into the bowl with the seasoning. After that I mixed the noodles and the seasoning together. Since the noodles were poured over the seasoning, I really had to mix them up well in order to ensure the seasoning go to every part of the noodles. But of course, some parts are more bland than others.

 

My verdict? It was not a bad feat attempting to fry the noodles. Even though there were not many utensils available, I managed to make do with whatever that was available, and so quelled my hunger pangs in the middle of the night (or early in the morning)!

Local Delicacies In Kuala Lumpur

I reached Kuala Lumpur quite late in the evening, and immediately went to meet up with my friends who brought me to Port Klang for a late seafood dinner. I was so hungry that I ate everything I saw. There were cereal prawns, black pepper crabs, fish, vegetables and claypot bean curd. It was a really good meal!

Cereal Prawn

 



The half-eaten meal

 



Fish

 



Claypot bean curd

 

The next morning, after having breakfast at my guesthouse, I met Julie where she brought me out for the day. We had lunch at a cafe at Pavilion, walked around more, had a break, then went to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner.

 



Breakfast of toast, fried noodles, fruit and tea

 



My lunch of Penang Kway Teow

 



Julie's lunch which I cannot remember the name

 



We had a break of beef noodles at a coffee shop opposite Chinatown

 



Dinner at Hard Rock Cafe

 



My Chicken Macaroni and Cheese

 



Julie's fajitas

 



The next morning was my last day in Malaysia. After another full breakfast, I went to the pick up point to wait for the bus back home. And this concludes my Malaysian food journey!

Breakfast of toast, scrambled egg, fruit and tea

Local Delicacies In Kuching And Mulu

After Miri, I went on to Kuching where I spent a few days before going cave-adventuring in Mulu. There are also some delicious local delicacies which I tried in both Kuching and Mulu. When I got off the plane, the lady of the guesthouse where I would be staying, came to pick me up, and then brought me for lunch at a local coffee shop, where we had Foochow cake and Sarawak laksa.

Foochow Cake

 

Sarawak Laksa



 

The next morning, I set out on my adventure touring Kuching. The lady of the guesthouse made me a simple but delicious breakfast before I set off.

I like the shape of the egg!

 



The tour guide that was taking me around for the two days was also nice enough to bring me to a roadside cafe outside a longhouse for the famous three-layered tea.

Entrance to the cafe

 



Surroundings of the cafe

 



Famous Sarawak three-layered tea - made from gula melaka, condensed milk and tea

 

My fourth day in Kuching I wandered around to the market on my own. I came across a coffee shop and decided to have lunch. Again I ordered the three-layered tea and the local nasi lemak.

 



Nasi Lemak with egg, anchovies and chicken wing

 

The second last day in Kuching, I went jungle adventuring with some travel mates. So the lady of the guesthouse kindly made us breakfast of fried brown rice to give us energy while hiking.

 



 Friend Brown Rice with egg

 

It was an intensive jungle trail, so by the time we went for lunch, I was famished! I ordered everything on the menu, and so my lunch consisted of mee goreng, nasi lemak, chicken wings, vegetables, anchovies and egg.

 



Good for hiking!

 

After coming back from the jungle adventure, we decided to eat at a restaurant overlooking the river since it was our last night. I had fried seafood vermicelli for dinner.

 





The following day was my last morning in Kuching. I had the last breakfast before catching a plane to Mulu. Breakfast consisted of two pieces of toast, egg and spread.

Upon arriving in Mulu, I went on a canopy hike first, before having an early dinner at the cafe. I had to order at the counter, take a number, then sit at one of the wooden tables. I ordered ko lok mee, but it was not impressive as well.

The cafe at Mulu Resort

 



The river next to the cafe

 



Ko Lok mee with iced tea

 

The next morning, I had a sumptuous breakfast of nasi lemak, to prepare for the intensive cave adventure for the day.

 



My next two breakfasts consisted of American breakfast and then pancakes, before I left Mulu and went to catch the plane to my next destination.

 

Hence this concludes my food adventure in Sarawak. Now on to Kuala Lumpur at the peninsula!