N's Piggy Cake

&hearts Noel's First Birthday Cake - it's a pig!

I do not know how a cake can be so adorable! This is by far the best cake I have ever seen. I gasped in disbelief then went into a cycle of over-excitement when I received photos from Giff about her cute little darling, Noel's first birthday party.

Apparently according to Giff, all the kids at the party went crazy about the cake. Who won't be when they saw such a cute cake! I definitely would be amongst the kids fighting for the piggy cake. Oohhh pigs are just so adorable!

Milo Freeze

♥ Frozen Milo Drinks

Sydney has been having quite a bit of a weather tandrum lately. One day it's hot and the other, it's cold. There's one drinks that I couldn't resist, be it a really hot day or a really really cold. Yup, you guess it. It's Milo by Nestle.

Just dissolve some milo with hot water, put it in a blender with lots of ice, some condensed milk and a little bit more water (or milk if you like), and blend. It's as easy as abc. Also I have just found out Milo is actually originated from Australia. Maybe we should all be having Milo on Australia day with a nice square of lamington!

I Love Puddings

♥ yummy custard pudding

It was one of those days when a craving of sweet, silky yet rich thing slipped in. And one of those frustrating day when you couldn't have what you want. With some determination (and a short walk down to buy milk. Yes. We ran out of milk) and none-the-least, will power (to shove my bum off the couch), a cold sweet, silky and rich dessert sat on our table after dinner. *yay*

♥ Recipe of custard pudding with caramel sauce from:
福田淳子 Fukuda Junko's プリンの本 (Purin no Hon), which literary means "Pudding Book".

ps. of course my recipe book is actually in chinese. I love it how they translated the title of the book to "I love Pudding".

October October October!!

1 whole month has gone by without any update on Cocoa Buta. I am utterly disappointed at my proscratination but on another thought, no update could also have meant that I have had a very busy October! So what exactly have I been busy at?



A visit to Azuma Japanese Restaurant was just an example.



We also had a very early breakfast at Bills, Surry Hills on a lazy sunday morning.



There was also the Danks Street Festival where we sampled some really nice Lamb Pita from Danks St Depot.

Oh what a month! More details photos shall follow up soon.

Roll Your Own Sushi

Last week had been a rather warm week. Too warm for hot food I thought and it was quickly decided we shall have a nice cool dinner at home with a bit of fun - Roll Your Own Sushi dinner party! Oh well, not really a party but since we had fun so it was a party afterall.

Fresh scallops and fish roes

We had quite a bit to eat as we have prepared far too many food than our stomach can handle.

鰻 Unagi & 玉子焼き Tamago-yaki & vegetables

The best thing about Roll Your Own Sushi is that you get to be your very own creative sushi chef. My favourite combination for the night was asparagus with tamago-yaki lather with lots of Japanese mayonnaise wrapped in nori (seaweed). Not very creative but you get what I mean because it means that I do not have to even have sushi rice in my sushi!

fresh salmon sashimi, white fish sashimi with fresh wasabi

I had bought fresh wasabi from Kei's Kitchen at the Pyrmont Growers Market and the wasabi proves to be so much better than those that come in tube.


Scampies, Octopus, Prawns & Salmon Roes

Beside the fish, we also had quite a bit of crustacean seafood. It was a scrumptious night, full of indulgence. We did not stop eating until after 11pm, to think we still have desserts to finish off! It was indeed a long dinner or shall I say it was dinner together with supper.

手信坊 Shu Shin Bou: もち銅鑼焼き Mochi-Dorayaki

I couldn't wait to try out all the wagashi at 手信坊 Shu Shin Bou when it opened in September at Regent Place in the city.

Pairing up with my equally mochi enthusiast colleague, we eagerly headed to the basement of the Lumiere Building on George Street and our eyes beamed with dreamy stars and glitters as we were greeted by the many different types of cute Japanese sweets displayed on Shu Shin Bou's counter.

Shu Shin Bou's Mochi-Dorayaki 手信坊のもち銅鑼焼き

We daringly bought a box of mochi containing all 24 different flavour "snow mochi" and devoured it the moment we were back in office. Such glutton we are. However the photos taken in the office was not of good quality (probably because we couldn't wait to sample the cute little sweets) so no photo this time.

I did however bought a small box of mochi-dorayaki to bring home and suddenly we all turned into Doraemon! Ok, I am just kidding but don't we just wish to become Doraemon one day. The dorayaki came in 3 flavours: mango, strawberry and Hokkaido milk. They ran out of mango when I was there so I am left with strawberry and the Hokkaido milk.

Hokkaido Milk Mochi Dorayaki 北海道ミルクもち銅鑼焼き

According to the very friendly sales girl, I have stored the dorayaki in the freezer and had it taken out, left in room temperature for 5 minutes before eating it. The dorayaki was very very good. The pancake were soft and slightly crumbly while the custard filling and the red bean filling tasted like ice-cream. The mochi inside the filling adds an interesting chewy texture to the icecream-like filling. With the strawberry one, the red bean filling in the centre is replaced by a creamy strawberry custard with bits and pieces of strawberry in it. 

The flavour of the dorayaki reminds me of Taiwan. I wouldn't say the dorayaki is completely Japanese. It has a unique Taiwanese flavour. Well to me, it is rather Taiwanese anyway. Anyhow, all in all I love the dorayaki and will be buying it again though the price is on the slightly higher scale to me.

Shu Shin Bou
Regent Place, Basement
Shop 1, 501 George St
Sydney 2000
tel: 0416 493 309
website: http://www.shushinbou.com
Taiwan website: http://www.3ssf.com.tw

New Pet Pig: Oink Le Rouge

I have been blessed with quite a few new piggies arriving in my pig sty lately and amongst them are a cuddly pink pig and a cute tiny pink pig. They both came from Somewhere City and share the same name: Oink Le Rouge.

Just a bit information about Oink Le Rouge (yes, he came with his achievement list tied on his arm):

Oink Le Rouge is a famous actor and a real city kid. He is the founder of he Oink Theater, the winner of many awards and an accomplished cook. He is also the author of the first cookbook in Somewhere City. 

There are a few more pigs who would like to appear in Cocoa Buta. Just hope no one will get fed up seeing pigs over here too much.