“I think I’m a little bit excited in the pants” says Steph giddily when a plate of food is set in front of her. A little later we say “We have four girls and two meatballs” and immediately burst into laughter. For those that think that I’m hanging out with a particularly rowdy bunch of girls, you’d be slightly off the mark for today I’m hosting a “Meet My Suburb” Walking Tour of Kensington and Kingsford with a bunch of fellow food blogger gals Betty, Reem, Steph and Trina. In our best effort to eat but still fit into our clothes, we’re going to stop and eat and then do some walking. We were very lucky and had some lovely warm weather this particular weekend which made the stroll down Anzac Parade all the more enjoyable (and the iced drinks at our pit stops all the more satisfying). Our tour started at High Noon on a Sunday at Pondok Buyung where we were baying for brains…
The Bain Maries at Pondok Buyung
A few days before I had emailed the group asking them if they wanted to try brains. The answers were swift and decisive and all in the affirmative so we fronted up to the colourful bain marie display and ordered a plate of lamb’s brains, fried chicken and chili chicken along with a Es Campur and Es Telur drinks. In order to eat as much as possible, all 5 of us split a plate which thankfully doesn’t bother any of the shopkeepers there as we eat and go (ok and chat for a while but no-one was waiting for a table I promise). Total damage for the group at this stop? $17.
Mixed plate with 3 selections $11
Close up of the brains-don’t they look oh so brainey!
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One of the biggest complaints when I was a child was not being listened to. My parents, at their peril, ignored me on several choice occasions (children were meant to be seen and not heard). Let me tell you of one such story where they should have listened to me. We were on holiday and travelling in Taiwan and our tour bus had spent hours circling this mountain and it had finally reached the top. I was full of Toblerone and food and when we sat down at the dining table along with the rest of the tour group my stomach was still swirling around continuing to do the countless loops around the mountain. I grabbed my mother’s arm and implored “I feel sick”. She ignored me and kept chatting to the woman on her right. Frantically I looked around for a bathroom and it was only seconds later that I threw up all over the dining table in front of the thirteen other diners at the table. As I said, ignore me at your own peril.
Another less dramatic instance involved donuts. I loved jam donuts but my parents always bought cinnamon donuts. No matter how many times I asked for a jam donut I was always passed a cinnamon donut. I resented cinnamon donuts for the longest time. To me they represnted being ignored. When I got a jam donut I felt like someone had actually listened to me.
Fast forward many years later and I have of course gotten over this cinnamon donut loathing although they never were my favourite taste wise – my favourite of course is still is a jam donut. And when long time friend Miss America was having a birthday, I knew he’d love a Jam Donut pudding. I did use cinnamon donuts as that was what they had at the store and he has no such cinnamon donut loathing and I spread them with strawberry jam but of course feel free to use jam donuts or Krispy Kreme or whatever ones you like.
This is one of those puddings that it also fabulously easy to make-freakishly so. All you need is a large jug and a little weak wristed beating action. Like all bread and butter puddings this can be done with staler donuts or breads but I have done this with both fresh and stale so don’t fret and feel that you necessarily need to make them stale. The jam dotted custard and cinnamoney and jammy donuts are gorgeously soft and very moreish and comforting as bread and butter puddings tend to be. I like to keep the donuts whole so that it’s easier to serve but of course you can cut them up but then you don’t get the cute bear face appearing. You can see him can’t you? 
So tell me Dear Reader, what’s your favourite type of donut?
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Our trip to Canberra was planned as we all love art galleries and the Vanity Fair Photographic Exhibition was the main draw for Queen Viv, Miss America and I. Mr NQN’s Canberra motivation was a rally drive with Neal Bates – being half Finnish, he is rally car crazy and the chance to meet Neal Bates and be a passenger was a dream come true thanks to the people at Toyota!
So after having a look at the exhibit we went to the Old Bus Depot Markets. My friend The Second Wife recommended it after her recent trip to Canberra. In a large converted bus depot it’s spacious and filled with food on the left and arts and crafts on the right. Naturally we head straight to the food and the first stand we see is the Batemans Bay man roasting nuts. He’s proffering up a scoop of freshly roasted honey macadamias to those that walk past. The packets of nuts are very reasonably priced with peanuts at $3 a packet and macadamias and pecans etc for $4.50 a 100g packet with a myriad of flavours such as green mango macadamias, wasabi and seaweed macadamias and maple toasted pecans. Of course we buy some, it’s cold ok and we need some warming up or so we convince ourselves…
Our next stop is the hydroponic herbs and lettuce stand. I have to admit I have a black thumb. My herbs live by some sheer miracle but I kill plants as I forget about them (which is why I am cautious about having children!). However they have guaranteed that this is unkillable so perhaps when we get back to Sydney to Fox Studios markets I may buy a box to see whether I kill them or not.
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It’s no secret that Donna Hay is a tour de force in Australia. Her cookbooks are fantastic (I own four of them) and she has the cutest shop in Woollahra which I visited a few months ago. All Donna Hay lovers out there rejoice! Thanks to the lovely people at Donna Hay Home we have a beautiful new Donna Hay navy blue market tote bag for our latest giveaway worth $79.95! This is a spacious canvas tote with leather handles in shades of ocean, navy, orange and taupe that is perfect for shopping (food shopping of course) but would be equally at home boutique shopping. It’s selling out pretty quickly so here’s your chance to own one (and they only went on sale in the store this week so you’ll be one of the first to get your hot little hands on one!). It will be sent to one lucky winner along with a note from Donna herself!
Goblin pies from last year
All you need to do is tell me what your favourite Donna Hay recipe is. Mine of course is the Goblin Meat Pies for my favourite holiday in the world – Halloween. Simply add your answer as a comment to the story. The competition ends at Midnight on the 10th of October, 2009. You can answer this once daily. This competition is open to International readers. All of you Hay Hay It’s Donna Day participants from far yonder lands can enter!
Best of luck!
Love,
Lorraine
xxx
I’ve often spoken to my little black book you know the one where I keep my list of “must eat at” restaurants in. One entry that has outlasted this book and the two before was The Dutch Shop in Smithfield. You see we don’t really live close to Smithfield and they have certain opening hours which make it hard to go out there unless you can drive (not I currently, due to a lack of parking prowess). Luckily I have a friend that can drive and wants to go there. “You really do have a black book!” she says seeing my Moleskine with “The Dutch Shop” entry written down many moons ago.
She’s well versed in Dutch food as her husband is Dutch and when I was invited to a lunch at her house a couple of weeks ago she fed us a smorgasbord of delicious Dutch and Malaysian dishes. When I asked her where she had purchased them from, she mentioned the Dutch Shop and my eyes lit up. “Oh I’ve been meaning to got there for the longest time!” and instantly a date was made to go. She needed to stock up on Frikkadelle sausages and I needed help negotiating my way through the Dutch only labels as my Dutch is limited to words like “Clog”.
I know we’re in for a treat when we pull up outside. It’s in the middle of an Industrial type area so you’d never know it existed and the outside is so quaint and kitsch I suppress a squeal. The front of the shop is the grocery store where there are all manner of Dutch goodies which she shows me. There’s Stroopwaffels, those firm round waffles that are filled with molasses type of filling sandwiched together. She explains the best way to eat these is by placing them on top of a cup of tea or coffee and allowing the steam to heat them them up.
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