Easy Peasy Pancakes

 Here is a super easy pancake recipe that makes fluffy, delicious pancakes in the time it takes for you to realise that you really aren't that hungry but by then, batter in hand, you have passed the point of no return.That is, not very long at all.

1 egg
1 cup milk
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder

Whisk egg, milk, vegetable oil, sugar and vanilla essence together in a bowl. Add salt, flour and baking powder and mix (with fork/whisk) until batter is smooth. Use a little elbow grease (the smoother the batter, the better). Dunzo on the batter front.
Hopefully you know the pancake making drill but if you don't here are some instructions.
Put a pan on medium heat. Once hot, add a teaspoon or tablespoon (however glutinous you are feeling) of butter and swirl around until most of the pan is covered. Spoon/pour batter into the pan. You can make the pancakes any size you want but personally, I think coaster sized is best but feel free to go crazy. Wait until bubbles start to form on the top of the pancakes or until they move freely around the pan then flip them. Cook on other side for about 30 seconds (depends on pancake size but you don't need to cook them for nearly as long as the first side) then remove from pan and munch away!
                                   NOTE: THESE ARE NOT MY PANCAKES -- I WISH!

 How delish do these look! I would like to think that mine looked like that but honestly, they were gone too quickly to even think of making a stack and then drizzling them lovingly in maple syrup.

Totsiens

Stealing at Starbucks

So I went to dinner tonight at Amokka with some friends from uni and we got onto a topic that both intrigued and shocked me. The dialogue went a little like this...

Friend no. 1: "I finally managed to steal a Starbucks mug today, it's taken me so long to pluck up the courage."
Friend no. 2: "Aces! I've never managed to do it but xxxxxxxxx has like 30 that she has stolen over a couple of years"
Me: "So stealing starbucks mugs, is that some kind of freaky English rite of passage?"
Friend no. 1: "You've never done it?! Everybody has a stolen Starbucks mug"
Me: jaw on the floor and a shocked look on my face "you seriously do that!? Why bother?"


WTF!!! Should I jump on the band wagon and attempt to thieve a mug or stick to my small town morals???

Please inform me...does everyone wish to someday own (meant in the loosest sense of the word) their very own Starbucks mug, stolen with care and expertise, lovingly wrapped in the jumper you happened to be wearing at the time?

Tchau (the decision to use a german sign off is becuase my brother has taken to only speaking german on facebook. I can only imagine why but I thought I would embrace the trend!)

Muffin Jokes?

Just some high-larious muffin cartoons I found this morning when browsing google. Check it out...

Muffin Meglomania

Waking up to a particularly miserable and rainy Saturday, my room-mate/friend Maddie and I decided yes, it was indeed the perfect day to experiment with muffins. As you have probably gathered from the name of the blog, my favourite food on the entire planet is a good muffin.

small

big

soft

crunchy

hot

cold

I’m really not fussed so long as it’s a muffin. It’s like eating cake but infinitely better. One of my many life plans is to have my very own muffin shop that experiments with bold flavour combinations of muffins and cakes. To kick-start this life plan, I need to perfect the muffin. Enter our Saturday afternoon activity. We decided to cook three batches using the same base recipe but varying the delicious extras that make a muffin, well a muffin. So here they are - the great experiments.

BATCH NO. 1

Mum’s banana choc-chip. There is a bit of a story behind these. Maddie and I have made so many batches of these that it has become not funny, but sad. I think these muffins have been a major contributing factor to my current physique. But as I always say, some things are worth being fat for and these muffins are definitely one of those things.Here is the recipe.

THE MEANS

2 ¼ cups plain flour

½ cup sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1 cup milk

 125g butter, melted

1 egg, beaten

1 capful vanilla essence

2-3 over ripe bananas, mashed

Choc chips (as many as you like!)

Cinnamon sugar

THE METHOD

Mix dry ingredients together (as little as possible!). Add the butter, egg, milk and vanilla together stirring constantly to combine. Add the wet ingredients, banana’s and choc-chips to the dry ingredients and stir with a fork until just combined. Pour into muffin tins and cook at 180°C for 35mins or until golden on top. 10-15 minutes into cooking, sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top of muffins. When they look delicious in the oven, take them out and let them cool just enough so you don’t fry your tongue and eat away! They can be frozen or will keep for a couple of days but they are always best fresh.

BATCH NO. 2

This was a fail of epic proportions. We attempted to make insanely rich double choc muffins but it didn’t exactly go to plan. I do believe the recipe we invented would have worked if we hadn’t fucked it up so badly. It all started when I burnt the chocolate. We then had to melt the chocolate into the wet ingredients. It was all fine but then we had finished up and put the batter in the tray and BOOM  realised we had forgotten to put in the butter. Out came the batter and the butter was added along with A LOT of flour. The result? Muffins that tasted like an incredibly bland cake. Oh and they were a little dry. But they looked bloody fantastic! So much potential, and at the end of the day all in the bin. I’ll have to try them again and see if it works when made properly.

BATCH NO. 3

Blueberry and white chocolate. This one was actually a roaring success! They looked and tasted amazing! Definitely going to be a feature in the muffin shop. Of course they are going to be called Violet Beauregarde after that lovely character in Willy Wonka who turns into a giant blueberry. Oh I forgot to mention, all the muffins in my shop are going to be named after characters in books/movies. Creative right? I’m absolutely stumped when it comes to the banana choc chip so suggestions will be very welcome. Anyway here is the recipe for the Violet Beauregarde muffin.

THE MEANS

2 ¼ cups plain flour

½ cup sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1 cup milk

 125g butter, melted

1 egg, beaten

1 capful vanilla essence

1 block of white chocolate

White chocolate chunks (you can buy a block and chop them or bash them in a tea towel)

Blueberries

Granola (to sprinkle on top)

THE METHOD

Mix dry ingredients together (as little as possible!). Melt the white chocolate. Add the butter, egg, milk and vanilla to the white chocolate, always stirring until combined together nicely. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring as little as possible until just combines. Add the white chocolate chunks and blueberries to the batter (be really careful not to stir too much because the batter will turn blue which let’s face it, isn’t very appealing to eat). Pour batter into muffin tins and cook at 180°C for 35mins or until golden on top. 10-15 minutes into cooking, sprinkle granola on top of muffins. Take them out and voila you have a delicious breakfast treat or mid afternoon snack!

And we have the finished product...

Unfortunately it's a little blurred but that's the only photo I took!

Overall an interesting afternoon, one major success, one tradish muff and one epic fail. Ticks all my boxes if you ask me. What better way to spend your Saturday afternoon than by baking the day away. The only downside will be working up the willpower to keep them frozen in the freezer and not in my belly. 

Zaijian wode pengyou.

Return of the (oh so sweet) Potato

In a sure sign that the weather is taking a turn for the worse, the sweet potato vendors have returned from a far too long hiatus. It's perhaps one of the only perks of wet miserable weather - more street food with less risk of the dreaded food poisoning!

I don't know how they do it. These potato's are always perfectly gooey in the middle with a tough skin begging to be ripped open. They are always cooked to perfection. The only thing missing is a little butter and salt, a problem easily solved (there was a dark period in my time here where I started thieving those little butter samples to keep handy in my bag). That is all I really have to say except TRY ONE IF YOU HAVEN'T!


Toodoolooooo

Graffiti and Graphic Design

Yesterday I hopped on my cycle and headed to M50, the art precinct on Moganshan Lu near Suzhou creek. The art itself was interesting and definitely worth a look although I am far from an expert on the subject (I love looking at it, but art confuses the hell out of me). Call me uncultured, but I found the graffiti gracing the walls of every cement surface in the surrounding streets infinitely more ‘arty’ and definitely more interesting than the works displayed in the galleries. Have a squiz at the photos.

Cheerio.

P.S I am aware this post has not been about food but let’s face it, the current diet restricts the food intake significantly.

Welcome to the Blogosphere

Ok I’m going to be completely honest with you. I am writing this blog for entirely selfish reasons. The truth is, I’m on a diet and I don’t like it one bit. As a result, I have resorted to the somewhat sad means of perusing food blogs whilst watching Jamie Oliver and salivating in a way one should never salivate (think of a waterfall ladies and gents or a steady tap leak if you will). Instead of resisting the food obsession and quitting cold turkey, I’ve decided to embrace it and join the blogosphere. 

So I have been living in Shanghai for the past nine months and in my time here have fallen in love with food. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never been one to turn down anything (quote my mother: “nobody can wolf it like Prue”. I’m not sure whether to be proud or slightly mortified at that little comment written in the family Christmas letter one year). Despite my inherent lack of mastication, I love eating food whether it is from the snootiest of restaurants or the 7-11 down the road. It turns out Shanghai is the perfect place to do just that. With an expat population exceeding the 60,000 mark, I have found myself among an absolute plethora of the world’s cuisine (something I am not used to coming from sleepy Brisbane, Australia) and as it so happens, a plethora of guests very willing to dine out in style and foot the bill (again, not so common in Brisbane). Unfortunately, my time in Shanghai is coming to a close and I don’t want to leave without some documentation of the colossal amount I consumed here. I am a little porkier for the experience but honestly, some things are worth being fat for. On that note I end my first blog post with a tummy grumble and wishful thinking about Baker and Spice.

Toodlepip.