Tuesday, May 31, 2011

    A Day with the Girls
Sunday was a sunny autumn day, perfect for a very late breakfast with my girlfriends. With a headache and a big appetite we headed into Civic to Cafe Essen. After a few hours of walking around Glebe park we headed back to Essen for some delicious cake. Essen holds a lot of great memories for me, during high school and college it was a typical hang out with friends. Years later I'm still drawn into its warm bohemian atmosphere and comforting food. 

                                      French toast with honey instead of maple syrup and bacon


                                    Hazelnut hot chocolate with whipped cream and caramel sauce



                                                  Poached eggs with salt and cracked pepper


Jess











                                                     Renee's chocolate mud cake                                                                   

                  
                                                       Jess's lemon marange pie
                                                           My Mars bar cheesecake
Love Jem


Saturday, May 14, 2011

                           A Special Day & Beautiful Food
Saturday 7th of May was a special day. My former boss, Lee, married the father of her child and the love of her life. The ceremony and  reception was held at the lobby on a warm autumn day. The food was exceptional.
Entree.
Togarashi tiger prawns with a citrus and summer berry salad.
These lovely prawns were well seasoned and had a beautiful fresh flavour. I'm not a fan of salad so I steered clear of it but it did look pretty.


Entree number two was a pink peppered kangaroo carpaccio, a rocket and  pecorino salad served with roasted macadamia aoli. This was Andrew's dish which I had a taste of. The meat tasted like rare beef the aolie was creamy with crumbs of macadamia mixed though, again I passed on the salad.

Main. Char grilled lamb loin with a warm potato salad, sugar snap peas and cumberland sauce. The lamb was perfectly cooked medium which is exactly how I like my meat. The sauce reminded me of a jus, it had a rich meaty flavour which complemented the lamb beautifully. The potatoes had a creamy mustard dressing. The sugar snap peas were lightly cooked, sweet and crispy, a perfect combination when eaten with the lamb.




Main number two. Moroccan spiced chicken breast with jeweled cousecouse, snowpea shoot salad and harissa dressing. I tried little of the chicken and found it to have a strongly seasoned aniseed flavour. I'm not fond of aniseed at all but those who love liquorish would enjoy this dish.


Dessert. White chocolate and mango brulee with pistachio ice cream.
This dessert was incredible! My favourite was the decedent brulee, it was incredibly rich, thick, smooth and creamy. It had a thin layer of caramel toffee which made a cracking sound when tapped with a spoon.




Dessert number two. Espresso and tia maria semifreddo with baby macaroons and choc mint slice. I only had a little taste of the semifreddo which had a creamy strong coffee taste.



The pièce de résistance was a four layered cake of cheese. The cheese was cut by the bride and groom at the end of the evening. It was then whisked away and cut up and layed out with a variety of crackers, fig paste, strawberries and pistachio nuts. My guess of the cheeses were brie, camembert, blue and vintage cheddar. The brie and camembert were my favourite, rich, gooey, creamy, the perfect ending to a wonderful day.





Love Jem