Grilled Cinnamon Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich

When I first lived overseas, I was a bit shocked to see a work colleague eat banana sandwich with chips...yes, potato chips. I thought it was weird.

While walking on my way home last Friday night,  I started planning for my breakfast the next day. Since, peanut butter has been my craving for the past days, I thought of making peanut butter banana sandwich. And, hey! It tasted good. My daughter, Sabina, enjoyed it.

Very easy. Try it! I grilled my sandwich on a non-stick pan and don't forget to spread butter slightly on the bread.

I got this on special!

The Award Winning 'Spice I Am'

Move over, Chat Thai! For the longest time, I considered Chat Thai the best Thai place here in Sydney. I've been hearing Spice I Am from friends but I haven't taken it seriously as I'm not so familiar with it's location, Surry Hills. It's a lame reason, I know ha.ha.

The girls, my daughters, had a serious craving for something spicy and Asian since yesterday. After trying a few Thai places, we finally decided to try Spice I Am. It wasn't very far from the Central Station. An easy 10 minute walk.

The place is small. I guess branches in other locations are spacious. Anyhow, despite the number of people dining, the service wasn't slow. It was just a bit difficult to communicate with the wait staff as they are not very fluent in English.

We ordered Beef Salad, Pad Thai seafood and Crispy Pork Belly in chili jam and cherry tomatoes. I always order Pad Thai whenever I dine for the first time. So far, theirs is tastier than the others I have tried in the past. The shrimp was perfectly cooked. My eldest daughter is an expert in crispy pork bellies as it will always be her forever favourite. She always orders that wherever she can. According to Ariana, the pork belly is consistently crispy. In other places, there would always be pieces that are chewy. I tried it and Ariana was right; the pork was truly crispy. The sauce was nice as it has the right balance of sweetness and spiciness. The Beef Salad was flavourful albeit spicy. The taste of the lemon grass, coriander, tanginess of lime and chili slices blended perfectly. The servings were huge that we ended up eating the left overs for dinner ha.ha.

Oh, wait. I didn't quite like the drink I ordered. Rosella. I asked the wait staff what it was and all she said was that, it was sweet. Can't further describe. I think it's an acquired taste. It's slightly sour, sweet with a hint of salty taste. I googled and it is a tea from a flowering plant named Roselle. It's apparently a healthy drink which is good for lowering cholesterol, just what I needed.

Over-all, it was really good. No wonder, it has won several awards.

Average Bill Per Head: AUD 24

Major Cards Not Accepted. Cash only.

Beef Salad

Pad Thai

Crispy Pork Belly with Chilli Jam

Steamed Puto... in a jiffy!

Again, someone posted in FB some native Filipino delicacies last night and I suddenly had craving for steamed puto at 10:30 pm. Traditionally, steamed puto is made from rice but that is quite tedious to make so I'll settle for a quick one. Yup, it took me less than an hour to make 10 medium size puto. Enough for our entire household. This recipe is flour based. Ingredients are pretty staple. Great for breakfast or eaten with pancit palabok or pancit guisado...our local noodle dishes.

The success of this puto lies in your baking powder and ensure water is boiling when you steam the puto as the volume or height will depend on those. Check expiry date of your baking powder or better yet, use self raising flour.


Here's the recipe...

Ingredients:

1 c self-raising flour *
1/2 c sugar
2/3 c coconut milk or fresh milk
2 eggs
2 Tbsp.melted salted butter*
1/2  tsp. vanilla essence or any flavouring such as pandan* or ube

1. Prepare steamer before mixing the ingredients by boiling the water.
2. For the batter, mix all liquid ingredients except melted butter and flavouring  in a bowl by using a wire whisk.

3. Add flour and blend until smooth and lump free.
4. Lastly add flavouring followed by melted butter. Mix.
5. Pour batter 2/3 full  in  a plastic or sillicone molds and steam for 10 to
15 minutes depending on size. Make sure water is boiling.

Sillicone molds (left) ; plastic molds (right)

6. Wait to slightly cool down for few minutes and unmold.

*Important Notes:
▪ self raising flour can be substituted with 1 c flour + 2 tsps. baking powder
▪ if using unsalted butter , a pinch of salt can be added to the flour
▪ liquid can be substituted with the flavour you desired, if it's pandan for example then, boil water and pandan leaves, once it cools down it can be substituted with milk

DIY Cake Stand

I love having friends for afternoon tea at home. For me, the menu is easier to plan compared to a dinner or lunch menu. If I had lots of storage space I would love to collect tea cups and cake stands. I only have a handful enough to entertain few friends. Besides, cake stands are freakin' expensive here in Sydney. Oh well, I find it expensive. Price is relative , isn't it?

Anyway, I googled some DIY cake stand videos. I, unfortunately, don't have an electric drill so I can't have those with fancy handles. I settled with one that is easy and of course, cheap.  I used two white plates which I got on special from Ikea as well as the vase. Of course, we will need an amazing glue, which I got through ebay as it is made from USA. Here's my finished product.