Winter Orange Cake

With a dinner invitation for Friday, I decided I would bake an orange cake for dessert as my contribution. This used to be one of my favourite baked treats for the folks at work, with oranges being abundant in the winter, but somehow I have been slack for a while.

Finally with a catalyst, I decided to try out a new orange cake recipe. Just randomly googled up and selected one based on my whim and fancy. And went to work. In a jiffy, I had 3 cakes, a loaf for the dinner and 2 ramekins for our own consumption.

Citrus scents are hard to resist. G begged for a cake (despite Thursday night being a healthy diet night and not quite off the Nazi regime) and wolfed down three-quarters of it, leaving me with a measly quarter. Was quite a nice recipe, it was moist without being overly buttery and not as sweet as I had feared.

I'm definitely going to be baking more orange cakes before the winter is over.

Currying F(l)avour

Curries are a good idea on a cold winter's night although Sydney's winter is usually not that cold. Furthermore, we are just at the start of winter and the worst is yet to be. But still, curries are a good idea. G likes the Indian curry while I am faithful to the Malaysian/Singaporean-style curry. He mentioned having curry for dinner tonight after our most unsatisfactory Indian curry meals 2 nights ago, so I agreed to make some, remembering the Singapore Curry Mix that Deb brought me some time back.

I made a vegetable and fish (mushroom) tofu curry tonight. We both love this tofu, fondly referred to as mushroom tofu. It had been out of stock at the usual Asian supermarket I patronise, for months. I was afraid the manufacturer had discontinued the product, until last week, at another Asian supermarket, where I found the long yearned for tofu. This is one thing which tastes as good in real life as in memory. The curry was a resounding success, G who doesn't usually eat carbs at dinner, had 2 helpings of rice with the curry.

Dessert was from Bourke Street Bakery - a pretty-looking, scalloped edged plum and almond tart and a beautifully-caramelised strawberry vanilla creme brulee. The creme brulee was a hit, and although the tart was not bad, it wasn't quite good enough to be worth $4 we felt.

And since we were at the Bakery, we planned ahead and also bought tomorrow's bread today - a raisin and hazelnut sourdough for breakfast. The bread there has never disappointed us before and we are all set for Sunday morning.

Back To The Orange

Last night I recalled my first winter in Sydney, where I faithfully shopped at Paddy's Market every Sunday, buying copious amount of whatever fruit that was on sale that weekend.

Very often it was oranges in the fall and winter time. I ended up baking a lot of orange cake, which was really moist and delicious and well-received in the office. With autumn just round the corner, the crisp air reminded me of that orange cake.

Today at teatime, a colleague asked if any more baked goodies were forthcoming from my oven. Flattery would get you everywhere, and so it was decided that an orange cake would fulfil that request. After a long lapse, the results turned out a little different - less moist, less sweet, less buttery. On the positive side, perhaps healthier?

But on the whole, still tasty, I'm sure the folks at work won't be complaining tomorrow.

Published

I am a published photographer. In an interiors/furniture/design NY website. Woohoo!

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/through-my-window/through-my-window-silhouette-of-bare-trees-036973

Spring?

Spring arrived with a promising start.

My little cactus flowered, a once a year event, it knows the changing of the seasons and the budding and flowering heralded the coming of Spring. Then 2 days into the new season, the weather turned chilly and windy and I almost froze last night because I didn't have my winter coat. It has been 3 weeks since I last put on a winter overcoat to go to work, and today, the fourth day of Spring, I had no choice but to pull an overcoat out of the closet again. It was a very good decision because the temperature dipped to 16C maximum, it was windy and felt like Winter all over again.

I certainly hope this Spring isn't like last year's which really felt like Autumn. I look at my flowering cactus and hope.

Bare Bones

This winter, I noticed many bare trees, I don't remember all these beautiful, bare bones of trees standing against the sky last winter. There is a sense of desolation, of solitude, of peace and serenity these trees convey. Perhaps also with their silhouette, comes a message of hope. That when the cold winter passes, it will be Spring and with it comes a renewal of Life.

Treasures - Part 2

As my mission was partially accomplished yesterday at the Surry Hills market, and my urge for markets was fuelled by all the tempting offerings there, I decided I had to go to the Bondi Beach market today. Having never been there, even though it's just a 15 minute bus ride away, I thought it was about time I explored what it had to offer.

And another beautiful, sunshiney day today. Even though the sign at Bondi Beach claims the air temperature is 19C, it felt a whole lot warmer. However with the water temperature at 17C, I guess only the very bravest surfers are still going in. But if this is what the rest of Winter is going to be like, I am going to like it. A lot. So very different from what I remembered of last year.

Bondi Beach market has a slightly different vibe from the Surry Hills market which is more village-like, sprawled in a little neighbourhood patch of park. Bondi Beach market is housed in a primary school, offering more clothes, bags and other accessories, with more emphasis on new stuff and less emphasis on retro household items and furniture. I spent a nice hour or more in the market, with a pitstop at the fund-raising sausage sizzle. I was served by two little girls (probably about 8 years old), the one who made my coffee asked me at every step of the process how I want my coffee (enough coffee powder? enough milk? 2 sugars?). It was very cute even if the coffee didn't turn out very good - and who could I blame since I was the one who gave the kid directions?

I found the item that I was looking for. Well, I didn't really know I was looking for it until I found it. It was perfect for whom I have in mind. Sometimes, life is like that, isn't it? You don't know what you were searching for till you find it and then, it clicks. THIS is what you were looking for. It creeps up on you, or maybe it just suddenly jumps up in your face, waves its arms and whistles at you.

Life is interesting like that.

Treasures

Second day of Winter. But what a gorgeous morning. I had to quickly discard my hoodie and after a while, my cotton cardigan as well, leaving only my short-sleeved top. It was unheard of in my winter experience. It was lovely weather to browse around the various stalls at the Surry Hills market, as with every time I go, temptations were everywhere.

I nearly parted with a mere $45 for a 1950s low coffee table in an organic kidney shape, with spindley legs on castor wheels. I figured as the stall-holder was so reluctant to sell it, if I really wanted it, it should still be there next month. Then again, that lime-green lamp I was hoping to purchase this time round was no longer available, however there were other wonderful lamps that were on offer. But I resisted. I bought a cotton wrap dress, some beaded jewellery but did not find what I was looking for - a tiered cake stand. That was my mission. Unfortunately, mission failed, I have to report back to HQ to put our high tea plans on hold a bit longer. I spied a one-tier cake stand at Salvos later on, but it was badly chipped. So no go either.

I stopped for a quick lunch at my favourite Bourke Street Bakery. This time, I tried a lamb harrissa (a type of spice blend) almond sausage roll and had it with a latte, sitting on a stool on the pavement, with the rest of the crowd lingering outside the tiny shop. The lamb sausage roll had the most unusual taste - the pastry was crusted lightly with poppy seeds and the sausage meat had a tinge of occasional sweetness, with almond flakes embedded with the meat. A closer scrutiny yielded up little blueberries which was giving off the sweetness. Ohhh it was good. Just that with a latte made a simple but filling lunch. With the sun lapping my face, I finished off the last of my coffee and ambled off into the sunshine.

On my walk home, I couldn't help but stop in at the gelato shop. I was goggle-eyed at the variety. Should I be my usual stick-in-the-mud self when it came to these things and get a rum and raisin as always? Or should I be adventurous and go for something different? I decided to live life on the edge today and got a fig and rhubarb gelato. Very good.

With dessert in hand, I finally was on my way home. But again, I got distracted 5 metres from my block. An elderly man was sitting in an easy chair outside his garage with paintings lined up against the wall. I really like one of them, it was made of fabric filled with a filling to create a puffed-up look of the images sewn and mounted on the board. It was a very retro-looking piece of work, 1985 the man said, from a girl who used to work for him. Unfortunately it is quite large and will take up my entire wall in the shoebox. I should have asked him for the price, I guess I can still go back as it is 3 minutes away from where I live. But I bought a bowl from him for $5 (salad bowl size). There was a potter's mark behind which needs investigating, maybe this is my moment, a treasure for a mere $5. I need to go check out the various reference books at the gallery and do some Nancy Drew sleuthing soon. I just love the markets.