I have a soft spot for dumplings. I am also covered in a soft layer of dumpling fat, thats how much a like them. So you can imagine my joy and hoorays when I saw that this months Daring Cooks challenge was dumplings (Hooray!). The point of this challenge was to make the wrappers yourself. And this was my downfall.
Beautiful fresh Shiitake Mushrooms from Eveleigh Market, ginger, Spring Onions
I live in a run down apartment block, next door to (at least) eight international students (a conservative count). Nightly, disturbing banging noises emanate from their kitchen but no delicious savoury smells result, a mystery that has me stumped. Downstairs from them is the crazy cat lady whose airless box reeks of dust and mould, no wonder her cat sought refuge in our breezy home one summer night, 2am. The apartment next to hers has recently, and thankfully, been vacated by a 21 year old thuggish giant who liked to play gangster rap at all hours. I haven’t even mentioned the drug addled goth who I saw dragged away by police last year, he lives just two apartments over. This is how well I know my neighbours. There’s no dropping by, borrowing a cup of sugar, but this is the dingy city, cheap rent, lower class. A far cry from my country childhood indeed.
I’m sure that you’ve all heard of Balmain’s resident rock star patissier Adriano Zumbo. From the toy-sized shop and cafe he has been poking fun with his confronting, playful and downright delicious desserts for a few years now. I had never visited or tasted, until Reem organised a visit to the cafe.
On the bus on the way to Balmain a bunch of foodbloggers, giddy with the thought of impending delicacies, chattered. Reem mentioned that he was really shy. What? Shy? I don’t know how a man who names his shop after himself and has the guts to present such thought provoking sweets could be shy.
Soon enough we are transplanted inside the cafe, the tables festooned with desserts. Four of each item in the new collection “40 Days and Nights in Paris” welcome us, jewel like. Cameras are excavated from bags, introductions brushed aside as the food bloggers do what they do. The snapping and blowing of flashbulbs stops as suddenly as it started, Adriano himself appears and everyone comes over all quiet, giggly and shy. Food bloggers sit politely, ogling the food, unsure of what to do next. I jump in and share the ‘W’ Chocolate pop rock and popcorn disc, vanilla almond chantilly, dulce de leche, flourless chocolate sponge, almond feulletine. Dense, rich chocolate and dulce de leche topped with popcorn and pop rock studded chocolate discs, texturally intriguing, and then the pinging and popping pop rocks start, tickling the tonsils delightfully. This right here is the joy of Zumbo’s creations. They are whimsical, playful and just plain fun.
‘V’ Macadamia praline mousse, macadamia dacquoise, vanilla chantilly, pear tatine palette, macadamia feulletine (left), ‘X’ Pine nut gianduja mousse, dark chocolate crème, pate feulletage caramelise, sacher sponge
Silverbeet isn’t classy. It is often held in low esteem, is considered a boring vegetable and to top it all of is mildly toxic. So why eat it? Well when small silverbeet trees started appearing in the fruit shop a few weeks ago for a pittance, I thought ‘hang the poison, I gotta get me some of that, and find out what all the fuss is about’. And thus replaced half the groceries I bought that day with a hulking heap of silverbeet because, you know, I can only carry so much home.
I realise how quickly the years are flying by yet again when I look back over the quince recipes of the past. The membrillo that I made before I even started this blog, it hung around for months in different guises, but was best as the sweet in the old agra-dolce duo. Luckily, there are so many more quince recipes in my future.
I agree with Maggie Beer, I will always come back to quinces. So fragrant and delicate, quinces are always a pleasure, either baked into a cake , turned into wobbly ambrosial jelly, or simply poached and served alongside this silky, creamy custard.
