Paw Paw Food

Salads — inspired by garden of edibles

ahfongcox — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 03:19:04 +0000

This year I did not plant any zucchinis but replaced it with cucumbers.
We had an abundant supply of herbs like coriander, mint, spring onions, sage, thyme, oregano from the garden. I used them in salads
Simple cucumber kimchi and a malaysian style pickle cucumber.
Unfortunately I did not take a photo of the Malaysian tumeric cucumber salad.

Shredded chicken breast, topped with spring onion oil dressing

Deep fried bean curd with fresh coriander oil

Roasted tomatoes

To accompany the salads — we had rice as well. We used the seaweed and soft leaf lettuce as self serve sushi style rolls/wraps.

These salads are easy to make and healthy–all vegetarian except for the shredded chicken.

Roasted tomatoes

ahfongcox — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 02:46:44 +0000

What do you do with an over supply of tomatoes from the garden. I have never tried roasting them before but I am pleased I did try roasting. The flavour changed but they were deliciously sweet. I froze some and with some I cooked them with thinly sliced beef. The next batch i make..I will make tomato soup with them, or add them to a bowl of vegetarian spaghetti

tomatoes slice cross-wise for roasting. Roasted–packed full of sweetness

Healthy dish of sliced beef with roasted tomatoes
I threw the sliced beef into a pot. Added a clove of garlic, the roasted tomatoes and let them stew. I did not add water as there were enough juice from the roasted tomatoes and beef. Salt to taste. Threw in a few slices of birdseye chilli, chopped coriander leaves and spring onions—all from the garden. So easy and no frying.

Westfield — Sydney –Pitt street mall

ahfongcox — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 09:18:58 +0000

When we were in Sydney last week, I checked out the food court, restaurants and cafes at the newly furbished Pitt Street mall. I was amazed at the variety of cafes. Here are some of the photos. We sampled some of the food and it was not too bad!

Hangari Kimchi BBQ korean restaurant in Dickson –Canberra

ahfongcox — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 08:15:48 +0000

Looking for a place to eat in Dickson was no problem but we did have to make a choice. Umm the Korean BBQ looks authentic. We ventured in and the people were really nice.
It took us a while to work out the menu but we settled for a beef BBQ
The sides dishes, dipping sauce, lettuce were placed on the table before the BBQ was lit.

Sides dishes: potatoes, seaweed, bean sprouts, kimchi

Dipping sauce

Meat being grilled

Wedding anniversary in Sydney

ahfongcox — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 07:47:44 +0000

We spent our 44th ( 3rd February) wedding anniversary in Sydney. Kevin booked a mystery hotel deal through Wotif. We hit the jackpot as the mystery hotel was the “Westin”. It is in Martin Place, amidst the city’s best shopping and restaurant and minutes from the Sydney Opera House, Darling Harbour, NSW Art Gallery, and Sydney Harbour. Thank you Wotif for a great anniversary present.
The room was beautifully furnished and the view from our room–was unbelievable…the architecture of the roofing.

There were many places to eat, bars and cafes within the building. We chose to have lunch at “Mosaic” –I am not sure if it is part of the Hotel Establishment.
We ordered the Bento box lunch. The food was ok but I would not walk a mile for the food.

In the evening we had dinner at Sailor Thai—I had always wanted to try the Sailor Thai .
I love the food, especially the jungle fish curry even though it was really hot!
Grilled tajima wagyu beef w/ charred tomato, chilli &fresh prawn sauce.
Personally i found the sauce very salty and inedible—the beef was tasty

Sugar banana blossom salad w/chilli jam and roasted coconut.
This was excellent…crunchy and the sweet and sour dressing was perfect

Jungle curry of silver perch w/wild ginger & basil.
This curry had no coconut milk but so good!

A tasting plate of Thai sweets for dessert

Vegetable garden and fruits

ahfongcox — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:53:10 +0000

We had a lot of rain at the end of the year(2011). Our garden thrived on the rain.
These are some of the shots of the edible plants in the garden—taken in the middle of January 2012.

tomatoes, chilli plant, peaches, lemon tree, apricots, yellow french beans, kafir lime tree, kumquats, radishes, wasabi plant, feijioa tree, lemon grass, curry leave tree, bay leave tree, satsuma plums, red stem silverbeet, chilli, sage, mint, cucumber, beet root, lime tree, soft leave lettuce, oregano, thyme

Can you spot the:
Wasabi plant –
A christmas gift. It has been planted under the “man-fern” garden and is thriving.
Curry tree –kariveppilai–is its Indian name
“‘kariveppilai’ (literally “curry” (kari) “neem” (veppu) “leaf” ilai)). “
Lemon grass –Serai

Chinese New Year 2012 — Year of the Dragon

ahfongcox — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 07:51:06 +0000

Stephen, Donna and Lily joined the fourjs and the two of us for Chinese New Year. Everyone pitched in and did their bit for the meal. As well as preparing the dessert Justine supplied us with some great photo collages which speak for themselves.

The Preparation

The Food

The People

U3A Epicurean club dines at WatersEdge Canberra

ahfongcox — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:56:15 +0000

Wateredges Restaurant View from inside the restaurant
We had a wonderful evening at WatersEdge. Not only was the food interesting –we discovered a neighbour just across the street, Kevin knew the sister of one of the guys, one of lady’s was at the same U3A art class as me and son of another couple had previously worked at a friends place.

Beetroot on choux pastry canapes

Choice of entrees
Jerusalem artichoke custard, chestnut gmocchi, camerlised witlof, muscatel and hazelnut vinaigrette

Blue swimmer crab tortellini, squash puree, avruga caviar and shellfish bisque foam

Mains
Atlantic salmon, scallop ceviche and mouse, cauliflower puree, fish cream

Lamb backstrap, prune & braise neck crepinette, carrot and ginger puree, heirloom carrot, water cress salad, lamb jus

Palate cleanser: Pear sorbet

Desserts
Rose water creme, ruby grapfruit mousse, ruby grapfruit teacake and pomegranate sorbet

Pineapple parfait, young coconut and pineapple salsa, coconut sorbet

Rejected by Italian and Sons —saved by Kingsley Steak & Crabhouse

ahfongcox — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 06:10:47 +0000

We left a phone booking for 2 at the ltalian and Sons. They returned our call the next day to say they were fully booked except for the window seats and at the bar and we would have to be out by 8pm. We confirmed that the window seat would be good. We had eaten before they became famous and we know the window seat was the best as you can “people watch” while waiting for the orders to appear.
However, when we turned up, they said they had booked us at the bar and we could take it or leave it. We left it but came past later to see that the window seat was not used. The problem with some restaurants is that success breed arrogance and customers are treated as though they are lying. Good customer service is to say the restaurant has made a mistake and to look for another solution.
As it turned out we were pleased to have been rejected and the evening was a success.
We decided to revisit Kingsley Steak and Crabhouse at the Canberra city centre. We were please we did. Even though we did not make a booking..the waiter was very enthusiastic and indicated they would prefer if we can finish by 8pm as they were fully booked from then.
We had excellent tap beer and a fine Italian Pinot Gris.

We ordered only mains.
Kevin had grilled Waygu flank with battered onion rings.
He said the beef was tender and cooked as ordered. He was not willing to share his Onion rings.

I had grilled spring chicken with soya and chillies on a base of chinese broccoli and chinese mushrooms. The chicken was succulent and tender.

Grilled asparagus with a balsamic vinegar dressing, topped with shaved Parmesan filled out the meal.

The food was really good and the service excellent! We will return to Kingsley and will not risk being rejected by Italian and Sons.

The Quarry restaurant and cellars –Cowra

ahfongcox — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 03:35:54 +0000

Last weekend we wanted to run “zoom zoom” in and Kevin had decided we go for lunch at Cowra. The Restaurant caters for lunch and dinner either outside on a lovely tree shaded terrace or in the delightful restaurant. The style of the food served is Modern Australian. A unique feature of the Restaurant is the number of local wines available by the glass

We had a simple lunch with a glass of the local red wine.
Chicken pie with fries

Linguine with chilli prawns topped with fried breadcrumbs.
But they replaced the linguine with spaghetti .
I assume that they run out of Linguine.

The meal was simple and enjoyable.