...If Whiskas went upmarket

I've tried in vain to get manky cat interested in more sophisticated eats. She is a cat, after all, and they are supposed to be fussy eaters.

So every time there's been cake or macarons in the house, I try and tempt her.

But to no avail. This is what she prefers... *sigh*.

a lazy post.

Feeling a bit lethargic because of the rainy weather. It hasn't stopped the consumption of cake, but it has put a dampener (pardon the pun) on my posting.

Anyway, here are two recent eatings from Adriano Zumbo. Firstly, the salted caramel millefeuille looks exactly like the vanilla millefeuille but has a caramel filling. It is very sweet (literally).

This is a fluorescent passionfruit tart. It tastes wonderful, tart yet creamy. And it looks great, doesn't it?

...black and white daisy card

Here is a quick card I made with some scraps of cardstock I had lying around, and some new stamps (thanks Lin Mei!). I suppose I should do the usual crediting of suppliers...

Daisy by belle. Supplies Cardstock: Paddy's Market; Stamps: Friendship Blooms by Stampin' Up!; Ink: Versamark and Memories; Flower and brad: Target

…um, how do you pronounce it?

I have to say that I wasn’t initially impressed with this dessert from Adriano Zumbo because it seemed a bit on the small side. And it looks a lot like the Mogador, except for the strip of orange on top.

But what it lacks in size it makes up for in taste, texture and ‘yuuummm’ factor (official scale of yumminess). I ate this layer by layer, starting from the base, which is full of crunchy hazelnut. Then, there are piped rolls of ganache, with the sweet orange complementing a more refined non-sweetened chocolate. And then there’s the dark chocolate ‘plaques’, which are crisp yet melty in the mouth. So, from an innocuous introduction, this has become one of my favourites.

But I still don’t know how to say its name. So I Googled it and found that Essaouira is a resort city in Morocco, known for its white buildings and narrow streets. And it was formerly called Mogador. Of course!

…it comes in Chocolate!

If Charlotte is all blonde and rosy cheeked, then this is her richer, more exotic, brunette sister, Chocolate O’hara.

She wears a chic chocolate mousse jacket around a smooth vanilla and pear (!) heart.

…I choux choux choose you…

This creation had a short but spectacular outing at Zumbo last year. It has to be in homage to the Religieuse at Laduree, but I think this Balmain version looks heaps better.
“It’s almost too pretty to eat”, I said. But I say that about all his cakes.

First tasted in November 2007.

...a teensy little waist (not on me though)

The wonderfully named ‘charlotte o’hara’ consists of ‘Biscuit cuillere, ginger and vanilla bavarois, lime crème, fig. basil and pistachio jelly’. Other variants of this have had a ring of raspberries rather than the meringue garland shown here. The combination of flavours is amazing.

I was dying to try this one but it was always sold out. When I finally got it, I had to wait till 9pm because the lights were out for Earth Hour and we couldn’t see what we were eating.

…I’m getting inspired again

I used to be able to whip up a handmade card or something imaginative in no time at all. These days, it takes a couple of hours to even come up with an idea. Yes, I’ve lost my creative groove.

Luckily, my friend Lin Mei has become a Stampin’ Up demonstrator and has introduced me to a whole range of goodies via some colourful catalogues (online shopping is great, but poring over catalogues with a cup of tea can’t be beaten).

As a result, I managed to put together a couple of scrapbook pages with some old photos that have been lying around. Can’t wait to order some new supplies so I can take advantage of this creative streak! LM, get out your order book!

…who’s the lucky boy?

Written on the box that contained this cake were the words ‘Marry me Ed’. Followed by ‘cofe (sic), walnuts, apple, raisins’.

The bf might have crappy handwriting but I’m sure he knows my name, and it’s not Ed. But that’s the name of the cake, and it is made of those ingredients, just like an inverted strudel.
Except for the ‘cofe’ (coffee), which gives a really nice taste to the cake.

And apparently it is named for Ed from the Marionette café. Lucky Ed.

…old rockers keep on rocking on

And now for something completely different!

Amazingly, I’ve never been to a KISS concert before even though I’ve been a fan since school (aaaages ago). So there we were, with the Kiss army and fans, 20 or so rows from the front on their 35th anniversary tour. Can you believe it, 35 years!!! I wore my KISS t-shirt (actually it was sesame street but no-one else had the same one!)

I thought the crowd would be full of oldies, but it was a mix of middle agers, 20s, teens and a couple of kids who couldn’t have been more than 12, with their dads. The opening act was Vanessa Amorosi (what the?), and she was okay, with a slimmed down look and a new album to plug. But we were there for one thing only…

KISS were worth the money – the show had pyrotechnics, smoke machines, paper exploding down from the ceiling, drum and guitar solos and fab costumes and platform boots. OK, so Gene Simmons looks a bit frightful in closeup with all that makeup, but the band are real performers. Paul Stanley is very lispy and was gushing about how Sydney was his fave place (apart from the US, obviously), and the new Ace Frehley (some guy named Tommy) looked exactly like Ace, right down to the hair. I think they must wear wigs.

They played all the hits, thank goodness, closing with ‘I was made for loving you’, etc. I felt like a teenager again, like, totally. Pretty good considering it’s been years since I used to rock and roll all niiiite and party ev-er-y day.

Here are some pictures I took during the concert.

To top off a brilliant evening, we tried to find somewhere for late supper. Surprisingly, most of Chinatown is closed at midnight (or I didn’t know the right places to go to). Golden Century had a queue as usual, and Superbowl also had a wait. There’s no way I’d go to BBQ King, but we did find Super Meal opposite that satisfied my craving for congee. It was good and cheap and just right.