High Tea at Impassion

We bravely took the kids to High Tea at Impassion in Camden... It was pretty good - Tim thought the scones were his best ever - but I liked the Hydro Majestic scones more! (Tim doesn't think a scone should be cake-like at all.)

We sat on lounges which was a bit tricky with the kids but the only accident when Tim spilled Emmy's bubbacino!!

Finger Sandwiches:

Smoked salmon and cucumber

Chicken, celery and pinenut

Salami, tomato and olive tapenade

Scones:

Warm pistachio & plain scones with strawberry jam and fresh cream

Sweets:

Butterfly cupcakes

Strawberry tartlettes (Excellent!!)

Chocolate Marquis (Tasted very much like Mississippi Mudcake)

White chocolate dipped strawberries

(Sadly the photo was taken in a hurry and most of the sweets are hiding behind the butterfly cakes!!)

Yesterday Tim and I went to Canberra (without the kids)... We had lunch at Artespresso in Kingston as recommended in the Gourmet Traveller 2006 Australian Restaurant Guide. There are no two or three star rated retaurants in Canberra and this was one of the only three one star rated places. It was lovely - and we did some celebrity spotting (or rather, 'ex-politician spotting')...

Our mains were:
Confit duck with shiraz reduction and Arthur’s olives (Me)
Crispy skin snapper with roast beetroot, speck, garlic and aged balsamic (Tim)
Desserts:
Caramelized meringue with strawberry shake and passionfruit sauce (Me)

Cinnamon pannacotta with poached rhubarb and brandy snaps (Tim)

The Strawberry Mousse Cake

From Marcel Desaulniers' book, Death By Chocolate (undoubtedly my favourite and most used cookbook), The Strawberry Mousse Cake. I made this a few years ago for Tim's Mum's 50th and learnt that it creates a lot of washing up!! I also found out that it: (a) is my favourite mousse cake and; (b) requires absolutely perfect strawberries. I wanted to make it when I had consistently shaped (not to mention tasty) strawberries - not too big or small.

I was very lucky to find some perfect punnets right before Mum's birthday and was able to make this wonderful cake. The ganache is the same one which I always use on my regular chocolate cake (the Death By Chocolate Brownie Layer Cake).

One day I'd love to go to Williamsburg to try the real thing at The Trellis!

Rockpool - Chef's Tasting Menu

http://www.rockpoolsydney.com/rp_home.aspxhttp://www.rockpoolsydney.com/rp_menu.aspx?menu=tasting

Oh wow!!!!! The best dinner ever - Rockpool's (in The Rocks, Sydney) Chefs' Tasting Menu - 12 courses by Neil Perry!!! Each was bite totally over the top amazing!!! Tim took me out fior my birthday...Some courses came with their own special cutlery, otherwise we kept getting fresh entree cutlery until the 'main' course. Mussel, Saffron, Lemongrass and Galangal Soup with Toast and Aioli (the toast was melt-in-your-mouth perfection!!!) Sterling Caviar with Tuna Tartare and Ginger Jelly (My favourite savoury course - and I don't usually like ginger!!) Squid, Iberico Ham and Parsnip Salad with Nitro Black Pearls - Inspired by Heston Blumenthal (Rockpool's signature dish - we read about the nitro pearls in the newspaper a few weeks ago - the frozen pearls are sprinkled on the salad by the waiter at the table and melt fairly quickly) (Tim's favourite savoury course) Salad of Abalone, Mussels, Clams and Tea Smoked Oysters with Truffle Oil and Mushroom Soy Dressing Grilled Quail, Pork and Prawn Pie, Sichuan Pickled Vegetables and Red Curry Sauce Stir Fried Lobster with XO Sauce and Fine Noodles Crisp Snapper with Cafe de Paris Butter and Spinach Sauce (I was a bit excited about eating this one and forgot to take a photo until after we had started eating - it was sooooo tasty!!!!) Chinese Roast Pigeon with Prawn Stuffed Eggplant with Black Vinegar Dressing Whipped Brie de Meaux with Pear Salad and Almond Straw Vanilla Pannacotta Cream Cup with Strawberries and Rose Granita and Dried Strawberry Garnish (Palate Cleanser - I loved the rose!!) (Tim's favourite sweet course) "Mandarin" - Mandarin sorbet, mandarin 'cloud', and a white chocolate mousse and mandarin marmalade sugar tube (My favourite sweet course - the white chocolate mousse in the sugar tube was sensational!!!) Birthday Cake (Chocolate Mousse and Cake encased in dark chocolate) surrounded by spun toffee (which melted as the birthday candle inside burned!) A surprise!!! Coffee with Sweets - We couldn't believe the 'sweets'!!! Passionfruit marshmallow (the best marshmallow ever), home made toffees, little mandarin chewy biscuits, chocolate cherry jelly truffles (which even Tim raved about!!) - not to mention awesome coffee (or in my case, a 'strong' hot chocolate....Wow!!!

Calvin's "Hulk Cake"

I made this white chocolate mudcake for Calvin's 5th Birthday - he had wanted a 'Hulk Cake' for months - so I had the cake toppers sent over from the US...

Elizabeth's Bridal Shower

For Elizabeth's bridal shower Mum did a fantastic lunch and made cheesecake and pavlova for dessert. I did my Death By Chocolate cake and Mum made party packs of little chocolate coconut biscuits with white chocolate icing to take home...mmmm...

Em's Birthday Cakes

On Em's 2nd birthday she had a delicious Baskin Robbins ice-cream cake with my favourite ice-cream - Chocolate Mousse Royale - and Cotton Candy ice-cream cones on the top...she also had little butterfly cakes and cupcakes for afternoon tea...

Handmade Belgian Chocolate in Katoomba...

We had lovely hot chocolate here made by The Blue Mountains Chocolate Company...the Belgian chocolatier who is making the chocolate has won lots of awards since opening in Katoomba last year...they also make ice-cream!

http://www.bluemountainschocolate.com.au/

Dinner at the Hydro Majestic...

The dinner itself was perfect - the only pickle being that the restaurant was quite understaffed...

http://www.hydromajestic.com.au/

I love it when restaurants have their menus online...

For Entree:
GRILLED FRESH WATER SCAMPI (Tim)
On a won-bok, crisp noodle salad
with a orange saffron dressing

VENISON CARPACCIO (Sarah)
Served with Celeraic Remoulade
and Lilypilly jelly

Main:

HERB CRUSTED LAMB RACK (Tim & Sarah - and - no, we didn't share!)
With Eggplant Parmigiano, parisienne potatoes
& Port Wine Reduction

Dessert:

FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE ROULADE (Sarah)
Served with Bourbon mousse
and Berry Compote

BUTTERMILK PANACOTTA (Tim - this one was the winner - absolutely excellent!!)
served with Orange Caramel Glaze

P.S.

The 'make your own' waffles at breakfast are highly recommended - but watch out for the maple syrup drips!!

High Tea at the Hydro Majestic

Tim and I had a lovely time in the Blue Mountains - we stayed (and ate) at the Hydro Majestic - in the Deco wing with a stunning (unless it was foggy - which it was quite a bit) view of the Megallong Valley... This high tea was amazing (as was the Josophan's chocolate Easter sculpture in the lobby)!!

Jared's 3rd Birthday Cakes...

Tim and I made a red Lightning McQueen (from the Cars movie) cake for Jared's party - butter cake with very red fondant icing and vanilla buttercream.

The cupcake stand made another appearance...Mum made lots of yellow (Jared's favourite colour) cupcakes with the letter 'J' and 'Jared' on them. I did some with little racing cars made using M&Ms...

Valentine's Day Dinner...

After not going out for dinner last year (the first time ever - but we did celebrate at home with nice take-away pasta) we decided to go to The Hermitage in Leumeah again this year (we also went there on Valentine's Day in 2005)...

For entree I had baked mushrooms stuffed with gruyere cheese and something else I've now forgotten while Tim had scallops. I have a total blank for the mains!!!

For dessert Tim had a favourite: the nougat terrine encrusted with toffee and hazelnuts and I had (and was very pleased with) a mango mille feuille with marscapone and a tart lime sorbet heart... Excellent as always and still one of my favourite two local restaurants...the other fav. is Relish in Camden...