Amy help! How do I make milk pie

Oh I wish you were awake right now cause I can't for the life of me remember how to make milk pie like when we were little. It's a rainy, dreary day - my favorite- and I had a hankering for something crunchy and caramely. But settled on trying to recreate this. It's still a bit soupy though after one hour of baking. Are you supposed to add an egg? I rembered the can of evaporated milk (always a staple in house when we were growing up) and sugar inside my rapid pie crust. Was gonna call you or mom but it's 2 am your time so I hope this will suffice.

Lace leaf fingerless gloves

Made these a while ago using my yakaboo yarn (Yak and Bamboo mix) purchased from last year's Sheep & Wool Fest in Maryland. The yarn came complete with the pattern for these beauties, a fine gauge and intricate pattern, but the knitting process went by quickly once I got the hang of it and since there are no fingers to deal with. 

Street art down a dark alley

Came across these while out in Chinatown for Chinese New Year. In Croft Alley to be specific. Pretty cool eh? I love the integration of really good graffiti artists into everyday urban life. And I must say that alleyways fascinate me, having grown up in the country these were never encountered, and they are actually pretty rare in the likes of DC or New York despite contrary depictions in movies. I am surprised to see so many in Melbourne cause it seems like such a waste of space in this town where real-estate is sky high.

Blessed are the cheesemakers

This is what Richard got up to one Saturday a few weeks ago as part of the Melbourne Sustainability Fest, sponsored by the Port Philip Council. Cheeselinks He is very proud of himself, making two types of Feta and some homemade yoghurt - All organic. And he is keen to do it again at home, aren't I the lucky wife. Very yummy stuff, fresh and light and you can mix it up depending on the type of milk that you use. Next up - a sourdough bread making class in May and soon our Kitchen will be so gourmet. Move over domestic goddess - I have a Domestic King.

Chinese new year photos

Happy Chinese New Year - Bringing in the year of the Tiger

It was also Chinese new year over the weekend. We needed to get out of the house on Saturday so we decided to spend our going-out fund the night before Valentines on something I've been craving for a long time. I've actually been dying to try Hu Tong Dumpling bar that everyone has been raving about, but they were only offering a $100 pp special New Years Banquet which was a little too much for us. So we settled on a more budget option just for an experience, at a recommended place on Urbanspoon. Shanghai Village Dumpling in the middle of Chinatown.

The place is nothing special, a quick chinese food causal hangout offering gobs of the same ole dumplings any way you like - steamed, fried, soupy - at cheap prices. We were definitely not complaining, I was commenting on how the simple concept is not common in the States, and it should be. Its would be so easy and so cheap. (I'm sure there are places like this in the States and I have just been too sheltered until now. Tell me where they are.) Lots of people seem to frequent the place before a night out, which is a great idea. They also have main courses of popular chinese food, but I have never had success deciphering the menu - being accustomed to American version of Chinese. Never heard of a General Tsao here. I was hoping for Spicy chicken in a brown sauce and instead got fried, crunchy dry chicken and rice - (no sauce). Still good though. And we ended up with way too much dumpling in our faces so we took the rest home. Photos are post dive-in with a fucked camera phone (I couldn't figure out how to un-zoom the touch screen til later on in the night - Its a 3 finger tap guys).

Caught the dragon blessing all the restaurants along the street and got some video that I can upload later. Firecrackers, and parade. Far from a New Orleans Mardi Gras (Which I am sorely missing by the way), but we were entertained for the night.  

St Kilda Fest - V-day

Finally ventured out on Sunday to find the St. Kilda Summer Festival taking place right on our doorstep. It had been going on all week, and we didn't notice, so we missed most of the events. But yesterday was the biggest festival day, all the streets were closed off, people started flooding in on the trams, and music was booming from all the stages along the route. A lot of up-and coming musicians were on display along with sporting events, stalls, food, promotions. The restaurants and bars altered their venues to accommodate the crowds and participate in the event. Turned out to be a big day out for us, sun-burning by the beach watching the Beach volleyball teams compete. Girls in their skimpy suits, showing off their six-packs (really!) and toned arms that allow them to get in a hard hit. I was inspired to get back into the gym, and maybe even get involved in a team sport (but that only lasted the few hours that we were sitting there and hasn't translated to me getting to the gym today). Richard wants to get into KiteSurfing, so we strolled over to the bay to watch their antics. Looks like fun, but I don't know how they all manage not to crash into each other. 

No snow here, while every one back home is hibernating. Despite the atmosphere and potential free fun day - this turned out to be one of the worst days because we just couldn't get into it, thinking about other depressing things, feeling alone amongst the amassed crowd, Just a huge cloud over us the whole day that wouldn't go away despite our attempts. Go away Cloud!

Valentines special

My very special surprise valentines gift. My honey has very good taste.

We walk by this Jewelry shop on Acland Street all the time, and I never fail to point out my favorites to R as subtle hints for future gift-giving times. So he didn't get me the ones I wanted, but he says these are better, how can you argue with that. Local designers, funky designs - I'm building on my collection.

More Carrot Cupcakes (w/ the Recipe this time)

Best way to get rid of the extra carrots going bad in the fridge. I am liking the idea of sneaking vegetables in desserts, probably get more vitamins in my diet this way. Can't possibly be losing any nutrients in the baking process either, since its a closed system.

Carrot Cupcakes, with Cream-cheese frosting:

Oven at 160 degrees C (about 375 F)

Mix: 1 1/2 cups plain flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

3/4 cups raisins

1 carrot, peeled and grated

3 eggs

3/4 cups milk

100g butter, melted

Bake in muffin tin for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through (test with a skewer).

Cool on a wire rack

For a Dessert, if you so choose, top with cream cheese icing: 250g cream cheese + 50g softened butter + 1/2 cup icing sugar

But I'm not a fan of cream cheese.

For breakfast, Richard will probably just smear plain cream cheese directly.

Peanut butter blossoms

To get rid of the excesses of peanut butter on this rainy Thursday I
opened my cookbook to the peanut butter blossoms page. Recipe says it
originates from aunta Nini's kitchen. And I've been saving these
Hershey kisses just for this recipe since November. Ran out before the
end and had to use some cadbury old gold dark chocolate squares. The
effect is just not the same. Let me also just say that the non-stick
jelly roll pans Amy gave me for Christmas are awesome. Thanks Amy!

Knitting pretty

Finally finished my knitting project. The Daphne purse out of Louisa
harding's "knitting little luxuries" book using Jo sharp pure 8 ply
wool in ember. I love the finished look of the herringbone stitch in
this pattern. Took me forever to get through. Not to mention all the
work necessary to embroider the flowers and put all the pieces
together. I added an internal pocket to increase functionality. Too
bad it's summer now cause I think it's a winter look. On to the next
project which I think will be one of richard's sweaters.

Tord Boontje Fancy Lighting

I just saw this fantastic home accessory through RBF on the Unica Home website. I so want the black one.

Channeling Nigella

We got the Nigella Bites DVD from our webflicks subscriptions. Watched the whole series one rainy afternoon and was inspired to create some tasty treats. So I proceeded to create a square version of her Flourless Chocolate Cloud Cake. Ingredients include dark dark chocolate and eggs (the whites and yolks used separately) as the rising agent. I included touches of orange rind and triple sec to lighten up the dark chocolate richness. The cake is finished with a heaping dollop of freshly whipped cream and a dusting of cocoa. Yum, though a lot of work to end up with something very similar to a brownie. I might just stick with my Mom's fabulous and classic Katherine Hepburn's homemade brownie recipe cause then I can get fudgey, gooey, goodness.

Melbourne Art Scenes

Some fabulous graffiti art that I've passed by while exploring the City. On a visit to St. Ali for brunch we found a whole project underway, decorating the entire alleyway (residential and commercial warehouse buildings) with mad skills - the purple tree house and funny tribal face are only part of the whole.

Mahjong for Dim Sum

Inspired by Urbanspoon reviews of Tasty Dim Sum joints in the City, I was craving little steaming dumplings of goodness. However, I wasn't prepared to travel all the way into the CBD from St. Kilda during rush hour to wait in line at the apparently popular HuTong Dumpling place that everyone is raving about. So that place remains on my wishlist. But to satisfy my craving in the short term we attempted the well-reviewed Mahjong Dim Sum Restaurant close by on Fitzroy Street. Only since coming to Australia did I come to understand the Dim Sum concept, though I am sure this simple idea of serving steamed/fried dumplings and wanton pockets filled with delightfully light Asian flavors is popular in the States as well and am surprised I haven't found good places there yet. Its on my To-Do List. I was pleased to find the Dim Sum subcategory in the Urbanspoon search options to easily filter through the masses of eateries in this city.

Once there, we dived into one of the preselected banquets which include steamed dumplings, peking duck, fillet steak, etc (The menu appears below) along with a few extra tastes. Let me just say that I love dumplings!, the way the secret steaming contents explode in your mouth with their subtle brothy flavors, though at this restaurant I found that I could not differentiate the fillings from one kind of dumpling to another and they soon became monotonous. I have a feeling that the dumplings and wantons are all filled with the same unexciting pork mixture. The fillet steak that followed was awesome and I am a big fan of the peking duck, lots of flavor and I wanted more. My biggest complaint however for Mahjong, was the slow service which, by the end of the meal, slowed down to non-existent. I think they forgot about us and we had to fetch our own bill to get the hell out of there. Rated fairly high, I was anticipating yummy goodness at this Dim Sum Restaurant, unfortunately I think my expectations were a little too high. Though I definitely won't give up on Dim Sum and look forward to my HuTong experience which I predict will come very soon.