Dress me up

Saw this on Facebook.

Too cute to eat!

Brisbane 2011 - getting our just desserts

Dessert at West End. At Freestyle Tout. Known for its delicious desserts.

Cool night in early spring. Sitting by an open window bay. (The Gunshot Cafe sits opposite - we tried the brunch menu there too.)

*white choco dessert dumplings with ice-cream and berries and chocolate sauce

*a Little Bit of Queensland - chewy macadamia slice with caramel sauce and vanilla ice-cream

Brisbane 2011 - nuts about nuts

Mick's Nuts.

A homonym for mixed nuts no less.

An old-time establishment near where you alight from the bus to West End Market.

Some royalty's been here, we read from a news cutout in the shop. They've got bags and bags of nuts all stacked up on shelves that reach the ceiling.

Different flavoured nuts, chocolate coated blueberries, wasabi nuts.

Brisbane 2011 - to market, to market

West End Market on a Saturday morning

Brisbane 2011 - Gunshot Cafe

Another great cafe, near the West End Markets. Here, we had our brunch.
A vertical garden of herbs run along the wall.

*smoked trout with poached egg and hollandaise sauce
*tolouse sausages with poached egg and sweet potato hash
*smoked salmon with creamed egg and cornbread (mine)

Brisbane 2011 - Pancake Cafe

Lovely breakfast at this 24hr joint

someone played a prank and added a moustache

Brisbane 2011 - Vapiano Pizza

Vapiano Pizza. A pizza place near Queens Street Mall.

They had little pots of basil that you can pluck leaves off for your pizza or pasta.

We had a 'calzone' which was like a foldover pizza.

Payment system was like Marche. You get a card to zap for your orders and pay when you leave.

Brisbane 2011 - Beastie Burgers

Great casual establishment by the river.

Near the South Bank Parkland

Brisbane 2011 - tapas

Dinner at Ortiga, a Spanish establishment

*oysters with sherry vinegar and onion

*lamb shoulder with yummy lemon sauce with a potato side dish

*small dish with a grand name - oysters with pork trotters with a stinging nettling sauce. Turns out to be oysters wrapped in shavings of braised pork trotters. But great rundown of the dish and ingredients by our server Stewart

*sample dish of smoked meat and chorizo. Croqueta in the background - potato with melted mellow cheese in a breaded crust

Brisbane 2011 - Korean ramen in hotstone

The beauty of travelling and eating alone.

You get to skip the long queue with 20 persons infront of you, and get seated at the counter with a good view of the busy staff at work.

Madtongsan Korean Restaurant located in the heart of Brisbane's CBD area
http://www.urbanspoon.com/m/r/337/1360743

Coffee and 'chang'

2 of my favourite for breakfast

Face cookies - holiday home baking with the kids

Chocolates, a long way from France

Fried bee hoon and curry chicken

Soak bee hoon in tap water for 1 to 2 hrs

In a wok, fry minced garlic and shallots. Pour in some water and bring to a boil. Pour bee hoon in and cover wok to let simmer for about 5 mins.

Add light soya sauce to taste.

Stir fry till dry.

Rice dumplings - grandma's recipe

Grandma's Nonya Chang

What goes into the filling

Dried Shitake Mushrooms, soaked, rinsed, diced

Coriander Powder, along with five-spicce powder and white pepper powder

Fried Shallots
Ready-made ones make the job easier

Candied Wintermelon, diced

Fry diced pork (belly pork &' shoulder butt') and add the above ingredients.
 Add dark soya sauce, fry till fragrant

Filling is done

Preparing the rice 

Glutinous rice, soaked overnight and drained

Garlic fried in oil till fragrant
Add to rice in wok and fry. Add salt.

The workstation

To prepare the bamboo leaves,
scald them with hot water, and leave to soak overnight, then drain.
No need to wipe dry

The wrapping

Boil for 1hr 5min over high heat in a covered

Grandma's signature plaits