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.

French Manicure フレンチネイル

Never in my life had I think I would be a model one day but there I was, being called a model for a day. Alright, more precisely it was only half a day. Nope. Not the catwalk model you are thinking about. I was a nail model for the nail competition at the sydney beauty expo last sunday 31 Aug 08!

Bottom hand: sculptured acrylic nails

Top Hand: tips & acrylic overlay

It all came by chance and who would want to miss this opportunity especially you get perfect french acrylic nails done for free. Nicole Fisher, the nail technician, was superb. We ended up with third prize! I just cannot get over the fact that I have award winning nails on my fingers. I have big grins on my face since sunday and still marvel over my own hands. Please forgive my silly attitude as this is my first encounter with acrylics. I can only say never have I love my short chubby fingers so much. 

ココアブタ is up!

Thanks to a dear friend, J, I have finally managed to finalise my blog's name. 

Tadaaa, here I present to you Cocoa Buta ココアブタ. Yes, I have stuck to my 2 favourite things in the world: chocolate & pig. "Buta" is the Japanese word for pig. 

Anyhow let's see if I can keep up with posting. Fingers crossed. It might take a while before I fine tune the design of this blog. Until then ;-)

じゃまたね。