It’s been a while – The challenges of life; love and loss.

Posted in family on 07/07/2011 10:30 pm by Suziwong

Yes, dear readers it’s been a while since i’ve posted.  The past year has been full of many challenges for the SuziWong family which have kept me away tending to our family.  Life is a challenge for everyone and it’s no different for us.  Some of the challenges have been met head on and others are on-going, but fear not, life while at times difficult, is still filled with joy.  This first post in nearly a year is about one of hardest challenges we’ve faced as a family; there have been a few, but this is one I felt I could share.  About this time 14 years ago, this lovable bundle of yellow fur came to our family.  His breeder named him fatso, which MrSW66 morphed into fat-arse.  Generally, this bundle of joy was called Casper….and yes he was a really was a bundle of joy.

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My Life in 10 dishes: A Food Biography – #1 Butterfly Cakes

Posted in biography in food, cakes on 09/13/2010 05:44 pm by Suziwong

At the end of July, The Sydney Morning Herald online published an article called “Write your own food biography: My life in 10 dishes”.  You can read the entire article here.  In short it was about writing your biography in food.  It didn’t have to be good food, just food that evoked memories from childhood to present; food that symbolised significant events in your life.  Being rather obsessed with food and culture, this article really hooked me in.  I’m going to write my biography in 10 dishes but instead of just writing a list and the memory or event that each dish evokes I’m going to blog each dish.  It’s REALLY easy to pick the first dish; Butterfly Cakes.  These cakes define most of my childhood birthday parties.  My mum, GroovyGranny, made these cakes from her school recipe book which was released by an English  flour company called Be-Ro .  I don’t even need to close my eyes to remember the taste of the buttercream and the gritty texture that it had in my mouth.  In those days fresh cream wasn’t the norm in cakes; certainly not the cakes in our family LOL

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Chicken Liver Pate – an old favourite

Posted in dips 'n nibblies 'n stuff, poultry on 08/31/2010 07:13 pm by Suziwong

I’m not a lover of liver (dry retches) and have some very ugly childhood food memories surrounding it :evil:    You know how the smell of some things brings back strong memories?  Well the smell of cooked liver makes me feel ill.  While the cooking process of chicken liver pate makes me feel really ill, I love the taste of the pate once it’s all done :-) This recipe is from one of my many sisters’ in law.  LaLa, Mister Suziwong’s eldest sister, first made this for us many many years ago when she used to come and stay with us every year when misses 17 and 20 were little.  LaLa got her name from miss17 who when a toddler couldn’t say LaLa’s name but could gabble out “LaLa”.  LaLa’s recipe is dead easy to make and even easier on the stomach if you don’t mind the smell of cooked liver :lol:

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Tiramisu – a new version

Posted in dessert, Italian on 08/24/2010 01:50 pm by Suziwong

We have a family tradition where the birthday star picks what they want to eat for their birthday menu.  On more birthday menu’s that I care to remember, Tiramisu has been the dessert of choice.  I have a tried and tested recipe that calls for savoiardi biscuits, sweetened coffee and yet more sugar in the egg mixture.  However this recipe from the Italian Food Safari television series on SBS calls for no sugar in the coffee ,1 cup of sugar in the egg mixture and pavesini biscuits.  It also uses 2 more eggs than my original recipe.  Even though essentially it’s the same recipe as my original one, i’ll be using it from now on because quite simply it’s better in flavour and texture.

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Slut Red Raspberries in Sparkling White Grape Juice

Posted in dessert, Fruit on 08/19/2010 05:25 pm by Suziwong

You’ve gotta love Nigella Lawson; who else would be brave enough to name a dessert in such a saucy way.  My variation of Nigella’s Slut Red Raspberries in Chardonnay Jelly is a made with less sugar and  non-alcoholic sparkling white grape juice instead of  the chardonnay.  Even though the alcohol can be cooked out of this fabulously easy dessert I chose to substitute it with a non-alcoholic version as my miss17 doesn’t partake in alcohol at all.

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Quick and Easy Potato & Leek Soup

Posted in pork, soup, vegetables on 08/17/2010 10:19 pm by Suziwong

Let me start by stating how much I hate winter.  Just so you get it… I HATE WINTER :-(    But one thing  I do love about winter is a hot filling soup.  Without doubt I like the slow method of cooking soup; making a stock, refrigerating it overnight, skimming and then finally putting all the other ingredients in.  But there’s not always time to invest in the slow cook method and this is where this recipe comes into its own.  You’ll have hot tasty soup on the table within an hour!  My sister-in-law MissMedia shared this recipe and I’m thrilled she did because  by no means is this quick cook soup a disappointment.

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Recycling Leftovers – From Roast Porchetta to Porchetta & Porcini Terrine wrapped in Sour Cream Pastry

Posted in left overs, Pastry, Pie, pork on 07/23/2010 10:37 pm by Suziwong

I have a problem…several actually but let’s stick to cooking :lol:    I can’t seem to cook small portions of food which means we always have alot of leftovers in the fridge.  Last Sunday night I cooked a very large porchetta.  It was fabulous, but I didn’t relish the thought of serving the same dinner two nights in a row or even again later in the week.  On one hand cooking large portions works well.  For example a large pot of spaghetti bolognese sauce can be frozen into several portions and eaten weeks or months later…but on the other hand there are loads of leftovers that can’t be frozen because they don’t defrost well.  So, what do you do with the leftovers from a large roast without repeating the same dinner over and over again?  Fear not dear readers  I have the answer to this and many more of life’s BIG questions…Okay, so I’m stretching the truth a bit…okay okay! I’m stretching the truth alot  :lol:    But I do know what to do with roast leftovers so that you’re not eating the same thing over and over again :-)   You make it into a terrine and wrap the slices in sour cream pastry…believe me you’ll be just as impressed with yourself as I was with myself and be justified in giving it a fancy smantzy name :lol:

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Creating a Family History from Old Stuff or Collecting Junk?

Posted in family, random stuff on 07/17/2010 01:30 am by Suziwong

I love old stuff.  Kitchenalia and household items really tickle my fancy.  There’s something about owning things that had a previous life with someone else that speaks to me.  Some things are used in ways that they were intended but other things, like the wooden spools in the picture, get used in new ways.  Instead of thread wound on the spools, i wind ribbon and craft trim so they don’t develop fold lines.

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New York Brownie Cheesecake

Posted in cakes, cheese, chocolate, dairy, dessert on 06/10/2010 04:34 pm by Suziwong

If you’re trying to lose weight…I’m sorry…this is not the blog post for you :cry:   But if you want to clog your arteries with fat and have a party in your mouth, keep on reading :lol:

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Chinese Five Spice Panna Cotta – Easier than you think!

Posted in dairy, dessert on 06/08/2010 04:58 pm by Suziwong

I love a good panna cotta…one that melts in your mouth.  One that you don’t have to chew like rubber LOL  This one fits my definition of a fabulously easy recipe to follow with great taste and texture to boot!

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