Climb every mountain, make your own wedding cake

{photo by jel photography}

Climb every mountain, ford every steam, follow every rainbow, till you find your dream ~ The Sound of Music

Well, blow me down and call me Ed but I seem to have been conquering all sorts of culinary Everests recently.  Like macarons, making my own 2 tier wedding cake was for me an act of baking mountaineering.

I think this is one of my proudest baking achievements.  Really takes the cake.

What on earth possessed me to want to make my own wedding cake you ask, when a) I was living in a different city to where I was getting married, b) I've just started at Med school and c) I'd never made a tiered cake nor worked with fondant before???  Well, with professional wedding cakes costing around the NZD$1000 mark, there was definitely a huge financial incentive.  And then there was the reverse psychology incentive: the more people warned me against doing it, the more determined it made me.  You say: "Not a good idea Nessie, too stressful", I hear "Go on, I dare you".

Me, stubborn? No...

{photo by my cousin David}

Sunshine and Fush 'n' Chups at Tunnel Beach

{Tunnel Beach, Dunedin, New Zealand}

What's more, if you turn over a new leaf, and keep it turned, I'll cook you some taters one of these days. I will; fried fish and chips served by S. Gamgee. You couldn't say no to that. ~ J. R. R. Tolkien (The Two Towers)

An almost wordless post today.

Am a bit of a busy bee this week, working on a monster of a post bout the wedding cake making process, it's massive, gargantuan even, a post to end all posts and also writing up articles for our med school yearbook, organising our next round for Baking for Hospice, while trying not to think about exams fast approaching...

So instead of my usual verbose offerings, here's a tranquilly almost-wordless photo spread from an oh so kiwi fish and chips (or as we apparently pronounce it "fush 'n' chups") picnic at Tunnel Beach, Dunedin, New Zealand.  Just another gloriously sunny but mind-numbingly chilly day down south.

Best Blog Award: ta muchly Bunny Eats Design!

The gorgeous Genie from Bunny Eats Design has passed on the Best Blog award to me - what a total sweetie! Thanks so much hun!!!

Ok so the rules are that I'm supposed to answer some questions about myself and award 15 other blogs the award too and let them know all bout it.  So here goes!

Hong Kong Honeymoon: Foodies Highlights Part 2

{prawn and spinach dumplings? why yes please}

Before I get into the post proper I need to vent just a little....I was an unfortunate victim of a manky computer virus that had my poor laptop down for almost a week (a week!?) and requiring a lot of TLC to cox it back to life.  People who make viruses = not cool.  Grrrrr.

Ok, now that I got that off my chest...back to the foodie posting!

Now, how could I possibly blog about the wonders of Hong Kong food without talking about yum cha?  Yes, my friends, the 4th wonder of this Hong Kong Foodie Top 10 is not a dish but a whole way of eating.  In fact, this whole part 2 post chronicles uniquely Hong Kongese styles of chowing down.

Of course, this is by no means all the wacky ways of getting your eat on in HK...this is after all a top 10 from our trip and 6 days does not a comprehensive foodie tour make.  But even in 6 days we managed to rack up an impressive repertoire of eating styles, so without further ado, let the Hong Kong foodie good times roll.

{daikon cake? don't mind if I do}

Let it snow: Vanilla macarons with rose quince buttercream

 

"They're crispy on the outside but chewy on the inside and taste very hard to make" ~ my husband when he tasted his first macaron.

Macarons: delicate little cookie sandwiches that are the epitome of french baking chic.  These wee things may look pretty and delectable but macarons are notoriously difficult to make.  Apparently even seasoned patisserie chefs can get a dud batch depending on the humidity, weather and a million other mysterious variables.

I have never got the guts up to try to make macarons.  Yes, the thought of making these dainty morsels scared the bejeebers out of me!  Until finally, a couple of weeks ago, I decided to face my fear. I decided to make macarons.

Seems appropriate that seeing as it is snowing outside today, I blog about my attempt at tackling my culinary Everest: Macarons, by making snowy white Vanilla Macarons with Rose Quince Buttercream.

{snowed in: road closed, lectures cancelled...time for a cuppa}

"Can the Snow Queen come in?" said the little girl.
"Only let her come in!" said the little boy. "Then I'd put her on the stove, and she'd melt."
~ Hans Christian Andersen

Wedding = love Part 3: My big fat Chinese banquet reception

{all photos by Jel Photography unless otherwise stated}

Small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast. ~ William Shakespeare

It's finally here!  The last installment of my Wedding = love album!  

Having had a white wedding, our reception was a Big Fat Chinese Banquet.  And yes I mean really do mean big fat banquet with a whopping 12 courses!  

No sirree, we don't do nothin' by halves down here.

{Menu with all 12 courses of our banquet complete with the meaning behind each dish! Photo taken by David Chan}

Bean there, done that: Rosemary & garlic cannellini bean dip with parmesan

I'm having a luxuriously lazy weekend...my husband flew down yesterday morning for the Med School Ball last night (wicked fun!!) and we've spent our Sunday sleeping in, cooking together, eating together, nana-napping and chit-chatting about everything and nothing.  Simple wonderfully normal moments that I've missed so much.  Doing the long distance thing makes old routines new again.  So often it's the little things in life, so easily taken for granted, that can contain so much happiness.
 
The boy was feeling the effects of the late night (the morning after is never quite so good as the night before) so while he was having a wee snooze I had a quick flick through my last couple posts and realised I haven't posted any recipes for ages!  Quelle horreur!  So as a brief interlude to the multi-barrelled photo posts of late, I present: Rosemary & Garlic Cannellini Bean Dip with Parmesan.

I made this when my girls came over for a mid week dinner and it was a hit!  It's ridiculously easy to make, takes less than 5 minutes from start to finish, and kicks the butt of store bought hummus.  Make it, I dare you...you won't regret it!

Hong Kong Honeymoon: Our Top 10 Foodies Highlights Part 1

{That, my friends, is A Foodcourt With a View.}

So sorry for neglecting my post as of late, blog post that is.  It was the university hols and we were lucky enough to get to spend some of it in the shopaholic/foodie's dream city Hong Kong for our sort-of honeymoon.

Why sort-of? Well, it was our first trip away together (and first full week of seeing each other) after getting married which is very honeymooney.  But the main purpose of going back was to have dinner with and catch up with my relos in HK which is less honeymooney.  And my Mum came with us - not that honeymooney at all. 

So while it was technically our honeymoon, hopefully we'll get to go somewhere later on and lie on a beach for days with just the two of us (hint hint darling husband??).

So as a blogapology for the post-tardiness I present you our Top 10 Hong Kong Trip Foodie Highlights.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of what you should eat when in HK.  That would need to be a top 100 at least!  No, no, this is a much less ambitious venture: a round up of the tasty meals and morsels we loved most on our trip back this time.   I'd probably need to go back for months to get a more definitive must-eat list...which I would LOVE to do sometime, so if you're reading this Harper Collins - call me??