A Date With Some Dumplings

From the outset let me appologise for the poor quality photography. Our camera recently died and so all I've got to work with is the camera on my iphone :( waaahhhhhhh

With such a busy couple of weeks just past I've only had time for a couple of Thermomix experiments.

BUT HAVE THEY BEEN FANTASTIC OR WHAT!

Firstly with the arrival of my Organic Box of Fruit and Veges that I won on my favourite blog Not Quite Nigella I've been making super quick and delicious stirfrys in about 10mins with no stirring, just set the time and walk away and do something else...LOVE IT...thanks to Rick's Blog for the recipe that I tweaked to suit me.

You can't waste organic vege, it's just too expensive to throw out! So when I saw a bit of discolouration happening to my half a head of cauliflower I recieved, I thought it was time for soup! My Favourite way to eat cauliflower!

Again only 10mins in "Thermie" with the addition of some water, a dollop of cream cheese and a tablespoon of the Vege-Stock Concentrate, the recipe of which is in the cook book that comes with the Thermomix (it's got no nasties in it, just veges, herbs and salt). And it churned out the most velvety smooth soup...it was heavenly...



 There are SO many Thermomix recipe sites and Blogs that I've got ideas flying at me from all directions! One that caught my attention was Guilt Free Choc Balls, seeing I had a bunch of random fruit and nut in Tupperware containers in my pantry this seemed like the recipe for me.

I used Almonds, Hazelnuts, Prunes (don't ask), Apricots, Goji Berries, Chia seeds (from a recent trip to the organic shop, not too sure what to do with them yet...impulse purchase me thinks) and coco powder. No sugar, butter or anything else that would turn it into a "not so good for you" snack.

Also the fact that you just put it all into Thermie and blitz it for 60seconds role them into little balls and pop 'em in the fridge....that's it...done...healthy snacks using random space-taking-up-ingredients :)


Perfect snack for a Protein/Antioxidant hit

My resident taste testers (Mum & Dad who live upstairs) came back for seconds...oh and the recipe too if you don't mind :)

Most recent excitement relates to a little dinner outing to Ashfield for Chinese Dumplings.

While doing a detox a couple of months ago, I'd console myself with reading food and restaurant blogs and planning what I'll have when I'm off the detox :) Sounds like torture I know but it got me thru...

I became somewhat OBSESSED with the idea of Chinese Dumplings so FINALLY we had a weekend free to organise a possy to check out the highly recommended little eatery "Shanghai Nights".

Saying that I was excited to eat here was a grosse understatement! Thankfully my "husbandly one" and the 6 friends I'd invited on my rampage were happy enough for me to order for the table. And the onslaught began! I ordered 11 dishes! That's right!! ELEVEN!

It was a bit of a blur to be honest :)

And with lightening speed out they came! We were all starting to get pretty hungry by this stage and as soon as the plates hit the table it was a FEEDING FRENZY! So no photos were taken, so to see some photos, check out what whipped me into a dumpling frenzy to begin with by reading Lorraine's Blog

The favourites were the Xiao Long Bao, steamed pork dumplings with a burst of gingery soup inside along with the pork, only wish we ordered more than one serve! Other favourites were the pan fried buns, chicken and shitaki steamed dumplings and the lamb and onion steamed dumplings, oh AND the pork and corriander steamed dumplings....

We all noticed that there was fried icecream on the desert menu so most were saving some room for that. A couple of us were adventurous enough to try the "white fungus and paw paw" desert (ok we were dared) and it wasn't bad at all, kind of jelly-like with a slight mushroom aftertaste, very refreshing...

And the damage for such an amazing dumpling rampage? $16 per person! So we'll be back...and maybe, just maybe, after I've been there a half a dozen times, I'll be able to contain my excitement enough to take some proper photos hehe :)