Chocolatesuze Cupcake Lovin Aussie Food Blogger living in Sydney, Australia

Simon from Simon Food Favourites turned 38 on the weekend and to celebrate he threw one mother of a party with the most delicious canapes everrrr


the fabulous view


simon hard at work


Lorraine and i had been pre-warned that the oysters would be in limited supply so we decided to not be fashionably late and we were rewarded with super fresh Sydney rock oysters served with Tetsuya’s dressing, Yarra Valley salmon caviar and freshly chopped chives


Smoked salmon and crème fraîche blinis topped with chives. oh man these were my absolute favourite! the perfect canape with just the right amount of salty-creaminess nomnom i lost count of how many i ate…


Roasted mini roma tomato marinated with garlic and served with mascarpone, olive tapenade and freshly picked baby basil leaf


Fruit punch made with lemon lime and bitters, tropical fruit juice, pineapple juice, mango and apple juice with freshly chopped watermelon, orange, apple and mint


heh simons friends were very amused at how every time a plate of food landed on the table we would swoop in with our cameras lol luckily they have been well trained by simon and knew not to touch anything before we got our shots =P


Peking duck rice paper rolls with leek, carrot, mint and coriander


Vegetarian Kuih Pie Tee with carrot, fried tofu, snow peas, water chestnuts, cabbage, then garnished with egg omelette, coriander, chilli and drizzled with sweet chilli sauce


you know you’re a true food blogger when you cant resist taking photos of everything including the watermelon…


pure evil. chardonnay…


Vegetarian curry puffs with potato, peas and vegetarian mince


Supplì, rice and cheese balls


Rye and wholemeal sour dough, soy and linseed sour dough with cheeses of triple brie and ash blue


heh presentation is everything! Special sausage sizzle with onion, chopped jalapeno, tomato sauce and American-style mustard served on good old fashion sliced white bread


Marinated lamb cutlets with garlic, lemon, fresh rosemary, whole-grain mustard and honey served with homemade tzatziki


the bday boy all smiles


Meringue nests with vanilla mascarpone topped with fresh raspberry, blueberry and passionfruit


Chocolate brownies topped with walnut


happy birthday simon! i had an awesome time eating your food heh heh

10 days late in posting about our xmas dinner ahem doo di doo =P didnt really take much fotos of the foods becos i was so hungry… but there were prawns a plenty in a bowl that seemed never ending, a huge slab of roast pork with crispy crackling goodness, oysters, random salads and of course garlic bread nom nom


the boy is designated bbq chef and sets to work cooking perfectly soft chicken marinated in garlic and soy


the fathership carves da ham “it’s xmas! you gotta have ham! and apple sauce!”


noods’ grandfather is happy with the ice kachang heh heh


and da family!

im so not ready to photoshop and edit and upload my pics from terrigal so heres what i bought from dj’s… a giant lindt ball!!! hahaha isnt he massive? look at his massiveness compared to the normal sized ball!


and the brothership and his gf shirley got me this awesome giant coffee cup bin hurhur i dont think ill use it as a bin tho… man im so tempted to fill it with coffee… and my beautiful macbook from the boy is so very shiny. he is suffering from tech jealousy with his older model haha and my super cute domokun from think geek becos i couldnt find a small plush domo anywhere but at last he can now join my family of plush toys…

so the boy was determined to make mango smoothies… and to make a mess…


and then he chucked a homer and scooped out ALL the vanilla icecream from the neapolitan tub bah!


and then because there wasnt enough vanilla he used strawberry which turned his mango into a strawberry smoothie…

happy new year dudes!!! here’s to 2009! my resolution for ’09 is to uh eat healthier, stress less, and of course blog more =P

how was everyones xmas? good? mine was filled with gingerbread heh and a prawn feast that the boy was unable to partake in lol i scored a macbook and so ive crossed over to the dark side… ill be off to terrigal for 3 days with the boy and am looking forward to visiting the tea tree spa for a “body wrap of stimulating chocolate truffle mousse” hurhur sounds like fun huh? anywhos have an awesome new year dudes and posts will resume soon! take care xoxo chocolatesuze

this is what happens when i let the boy ‘help’ me with the shaping of the gingerbread dough… didnt help much that i mustve added too much flour becos they became a lil puffy…


and this is what happens when i let noods loose on the icing pens… haha ah wells =P merry christmas everyone! thanks for reading and hope your christmas is filled with much love and much food. be safe and heres to the eating in 2009!

i like shopping online heh and maybe more for the unexpected deliveries… and because im such a nerd i bought a usb fridge becos i like my drinks cold haha altho i do have issues with drinking straight from a can so now i gotta buy a cup that can fit inside hmm

Finally, finally Nuffnang arrives in Australia! Nuffnang is Asia Pacific’s first and leading blog advertising community. It’s a local blog ad network where Australian bloggers who sign-up will run aussie ads on their blogs and will receive payment when matched successfully with local advertisements sold by Nuffnang. Nuffnang is looking for all Australian bloggers, big and small, to join the growing Nuffnang blogger community. 3 other bloggers who have already joined:

karen cheng, grab your fork and a table for two

Im sure if you read any blogs from malaysia or singapore you wouldve seen all the awesome parties they hold for the blogging community. And of course the prizes… like the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 theyre giving away!


ahh so so pretty! Dear Nuffnang Santa, i want this laptop. i NEED this laptop. want to see why?


my laptop is dying a slow slow death. last week i got the dreaded blue screen of death and the blue montsers pretty much killed everything in sight. my usb ports dont work and noods broke the ctrl key. and i see dead pixels… if i got the mini 9 i would be able to take it with me anywhere! it would totally fit in my bag and then i can blog at my fav cafe or do sneaky reviews at a restaurant!

the most awesomest food tattoo ive seen in a while! it’s a nice change from all the angel wings i keep seeing around… [image from flickr user Kapten Hanna]

a cookbook launch from a hotel? and from the vibe hotel which is mostly known for its unique take on ‘traditional’ hotels? im pleasantly surprised at the invite and am curious at the concept of a cookbook from a hotel and so after a chocolate feast and about half of the 32cm softserve eaten, helen and i rock up to the vibe hotel, sydney


we are greeted with colourful hypnotically flashing martini glasses filled with the delicious combination of lychee and midori. the glasses are so pretty, helen starts scheming on how to obtain a glass to take home until we find out we would be getting a goodie bag with the glass lol sweet


a demonstration on one of the recipes is soon the spotlight in the room


pork mince, rambutan and lime juice in the rambutan shell


the second demonstration was on the other side of the room and helen and i had watched as the waiters with the trays of canapes were getting mauled before reaching us so we moved into a better position. sitting 2m away from the kitchen door hahaha and the waiters would see us first and we could take photos of pristine platters and uh get first dibs =P


seared pepper crusted tuna salad


crystal bay prawns with wasabi


tempura vegetables


crystal bay prawns with chilli vodka. oh boy did this burn!


but probably not as much as this! the awesome bartenders were quite the highlight of the night getting the crowd worked up with the preetty preetty fire


another round of drinks brings the vibe sunset cocktail with white wine, strawberry liquer and soda water


and our favourite part of the night is dessert time! blue cheese and blueberry bites; shortbreads with mascarpone and toffee; and cinnamon-dusted mini pavlovas (descriptions stolen from helen)


we leave clutching our stomach and goodie bag which sadly is sans cookbook…but i had a tops time and thanks for the invite belinda!

it doesnt take alot to amuse me. i am VERY easily amused and when i saw this massive icecream on two-kg i knew i had to get it and less than half an hr after finishing the guylian degustation plate with helen we toddled up george st and into the smile korea mart (630 George St, Sydney) next door to hungry jacks.


we eyed the little cart that had been set up inside the convenience store and did a lap checking out the aisles whilst debating whether or not we should eat more considering we had a dinner to go… i of course am greedy and ordered the chocolate (they have strawberry and vanilla and also do double flavours).


HAHAHAHA i am very happy with my icecream and all for the low low price of $2.70! helen is a piker but seems to take great delight in seeing how many silly poses i will do for the camera heh im sure youve all read her post here


mmm look at all those swirls!


(photo borrowed from helen) i wonder if the hungry jacks next door will do anything with their soft serves for competition… like maybe a 50cm icecream? cos seriously how can you go back to their midgety sized soft serves when you can have the king of all soft serves!

i know i know im late to the guylian party. there has been baking galore and the weekends have been taken over by the xmas markets but a couplea weeks ago i trekked to the city to meet helen for the vibe entertains cookbook launch and we decided to have some dessert first at the guylian belgian chocolate cafe in east circular quay.


oh boy a whole counter of chocolate! how to resist?


cakes… um helen has a more detailed post here if ya want names and prices of the cakes


eclairs, brownies, financiers and cookies aplenty


baked goods filled with chocolatey goodness


wall of chocolates


i really wanted to buy the seahorse praline liqueur… oh man imagine how good it would be on icecream… anyone want to buy for me for xmas? =P


oh man a whole bowl of seashells!


and another huge bowl of chocolate!


squares of solitaire choccies waiting to be eaten


our milk and dark hot chocolate ($7)


we grin as we take turns pouring our hot chocolate for each other to take a photo ah the happiness that is food blogging


gratuitous chocolatesuze shot. i liked the square of chocolate on the bottom of the mug but wished i had more to chuck in to make it more chocolatey (you can never have too much chocolate)


chocolate degustation plate ($30). l-r cup of chocolate mousse, baked chocolate cake, macadamia brownie, the red delight, cup of praline ice cream, and three chocolates. the degustation plate comes with a hot chocolate but when our bill arrives we arent charged for our extra one. sweet.


helen is merciless and hacks away at our cakes. heh heh. she did a pretty good job tho right? lol i didnt enjoy the selection as much as i thought i would- for some reason there was a cloyingly sweet taste of honey in the brownie and chocolate mousse and id just gotten over a cold and ate way too much manuka honey for my liking. but the company was great and there was still a trip down george st for some icecream later…


i reckon i will be back tho there is still much much more cakes to be tried!

when i received an invite to the mcdonalds seared chicken launch i was thinking huh maccas do launches? “it will be a night you would never expect from Maccas” darcie promises and so i rocked up to the strand arcade mcdonalds meeting up with lorraine from not quite nigella before being confronted with a blacked out store and a sign saying closed for private function.


considering this store is usually open 24hrs we felt super special


arch mansion heh geddit?


a hunchback bellhop greets us at the entrance… i had another photo of me pulling a zombie face but uh that shall be buried somewhere safe =P


we step thru the heavy black curtains and into a place that was so gorgeously decorated it was hard to believe it was a maccas store. tables covered in crisp white linen with tall candelabras and golden ornate chairs


above us there was an awesome quartet playing creepy haunted mansion music


we were presented with a costume for the murder mystery that was to take place luckily i was one of two playing the waitstaff with my hero lorraine rescuing me from my intense fear of speaking to a roomful of people… thats right im shy =P


we began with canapes of seared chicken mini snack wraps


then bowls of salad appeared for our table. first the seared chicken classic salad


and then the seared chicken caesar salad which won me over with the bacon bits ah bacon nom nom


i was incredibly happy when a giant bowl of fries arrived heh it was the oddest feeling tho eating off proper plates with proper cutlery and drinking wine from proper glasses whilst eating burgers and fries…


first up on the burgers is the seared chicken classic- chicken breast fillet, salad mix and mayo


second is the seared chicken deluxe- chicken breast fillet, salad mix, tomato, cheese and ranch sauce. i think this one was my favourite cos i love ranch dressing


and lastly the seared chicken bacon deluxe- chicken breast fillet, salad mix, tomato, cheese, bacon and ranch dressing.


the backdrop with sexy velvet lounges where the murder mystery took place. i had an awesome time and as we left we hear the organisers planning on taking everything apart within half an hour so maccas can reopen lol

mention dessert to a food blogger and they will drop everything to come. especially if it’s ZUMBO… adriano zumbo patissier (296 Darling Street, Balmain) is fast becoming my happy place and with the spread of the almost fanatical legions of foodblogger fans it will soon be yours too =P


zumbos new summer collection is called ‘please sir can i have some more’ (available until 22nd may) and like little oliver twist begging for more food my brain is begging me to reach deep into my wallet and procure some pretty babies…


“im charles! pick the charles du jour!” counterboy persuades us


zumbo the kid has vegemite in it heh how aussie


my heart skips a beat at the sight of the rice pudding eclair and is immediately whisked away into a pretty box


while the cakes are so prettily lined up in rows on their pristine white plates i cant help but stare at the boxful of macarons. BOXES of macarons! look at them so fat and squishy and filled with super generous amounts of filling! 4 each please i say to the counterboy who packs them into another pretty box


pineapple & ginger, pink grapefruit, blue cheese. heh yes blue cheese macaron! i couldn’t see how a savoury flavour could work but it did and it wasn’t too overpowering. the pineapple & ginger was a little too gingery for i who is just starting to get into ginger and is saved for the mothership. the pink grapefruit is a pleasant flavour but i was hoping for bits of pulp to be in it


mango & jasmine, finger bun, sticky date pudding. of the 6 flavours i chose i think these 3 were the best with the sticky date pudding my absolute fav and the finger bun a close second with sultanas buried in the filling and rolled with coconut. the mango & jasmine is a refreshing combination of sweet mango and floral notes of jasmine


armed with our treats we head to the adriano zumbo cafe chocolat (Shop 5, 308 Darling St, Balmain, inside Balmain Mall about 5 shops to the right of the patisserie) where the fabulous reem from i am obsessed with food has pre-warned the staff of our arrival and managed to reserve us the little alcove with the shiny red chandelier and long communal table.


we are joined by helen from grab your fork, karen from citrus and candy, amanda from the cake and the knife, howard, linda and teresa from eat show and tell, lorraine from not quite nigella, belle from ooh, look, richard from here comes the food, simon from simon food favourites, yien yien from the delectable delight and chris and tim from the way it crumbles and the table is soon filled with plates of cakes and tarts and breads and mugs of hot chocolate so we spill over to the adjacent table for a makeshift cake studio


the rice pudding eclair ($5.20) is as fabulous as i had hoped with crisp choux sandwiching the rice pudding creme and covered in a cinnamon dusted fondant


innards shot of zumbo the kid ($7.50)


helen has contributed the charles du jour ($7.60) for our feast


and then promptly kills it in her attempt to divide it heh heh there were many more desserts eaten but im sure youll see it on everyone elses blogs lol


and the aftermath of 18 happy zumbo fans ahhh it was great to see everyone again and thanks everyone for sharing!

so the boy is a mac fanatic and sent me this link the other day… but it’s just a box of apples you say? look closer… HOW DYA LIKE DEM APPLES!


haha someone with a lot of time on their hands decided to stencil apple products onto apples


but cute right? doesnt it make you want to grow some apples and stencil away?


my fav of the lot hehe images are from here and theres a couple more on the website but text is in japanese

come one come all to the Good Food Affare! The Good Food Affare is three days of heaven for food lovers- a growers market with restaurants and cafes and Australia’s most celebrated chefs and cooks live on stage and much more! Free admission! Where: Castle Hill Showground, entry via Doran Drive, off Carrington Rd, Castle Hill. Parking on-site $10 When: Friday 21st, Saturday 22nd, Sunday 23rd November, 9am-6pm edit: the good food affare is on rain, hail or shine!


bring your green enviro bags from home or pick some up on the day


come early and score a free bacon and egg burger from edmundi sponsored by 2UE. but yeah seriously dudes come as early as possible because parking was full by 10.30am today (fri) and people (me) run out of stock heh


theres about 5 marquees set up each with different food stuffs- this is where mine is! with the booze!


mememe! come by my biscuit tree stall and say the magical words of i read your blog and ill give you a free gingerbread man! but only on saturday between 9am and 3pm because the reinforcements arrive and i go home heh


thirsty? this store sells honey energy drinks mmm energy drinks…


good food affare’s star attraction: skye gyngell’s cafe


but sadly the high tea is completely booked out… not sure about the lunch tho but how pretty is the area?


want to wander the stalls with me? meet the super charming angus beef man!


who is super generous with his samples heh yes i had a little nibble before taking the photo because it smelled sooo good


shrooms! (bowb: mushroom mushroom mushroom)


organic fruit and veg


and say a giant hello to my friends peter and andrew (hiding) from the maybole pantry! have a taste of their awesome jams they are seriously addictive and are tops on scones


fudge! nom nom


freshly made pastas


my fav honey- malfroy’s gold. i buy the jars of honey with the piece of honeycomb inside mmm sweeeeet


byron bay truffle co has some amazing chocolates


my picks are the green apple vodka and the tequila heh heh not even 10am and im onto the liquor! the green apple vodka is sublime =P


and after a hard days work of shopping why not have a rest in the beautiful cafe or have a wander thru the cwa tea rooms. hope you guys can come visit me!

less thank 24hrs after i wrote this post about how the mothership asked for the mother energy drink, the fabulous darcie from zing told me shed send me some cans in the mail


6 cans of awesomeness! ‘new! completely reformulated!’ the can exclaims. and it is. the old mother tasted shockingly horrible but the new mother tastes like a cross between red bull and v mmm citrusy! the can is a tad on the large size with the back of the can reading: “best drunk freeze your nuts off cold” and “our lame legal guys made us warn you not to feed this to kids, up the duff women or the weak who just cant tolerate it” lol one can of mother is pretty much double the size of all the other energy drinks on the market


4 days later and something else arrives on my doorstep…


more babies! a whole slab of babies!


mmm ill show you some lovin’


and a nod to mooiness who is another mother lover heh thanks again darcie!

the boy: “apparently it’s mc happy day and i was going to go up to the counter and order but realised everyone was wearing these blue shirts with giant happy faces and i didnt want people to look at me funny because i was wearing a sad face tshirt”

2 hours before the show was to start, the mothership managed to score us some free tix to the highlight of good food month which everyone has been talking about- ferran adria. he was in sydney (and melb) to spruik his new book a day at elBulli.


and for the next 2 hours my little mind was blown away by the gorgeous photo slideshows that were interspersed with adrias talk. dressed in his chefs whites, the man was charming with a wry sense of humour that managed to be conveyed perfectly by his translator. he was passionate and so eager to share his techniques and experiences such as the mimetiso technique making jelly in the perfect shape of strawberries.

there was a round of laughter when adria showed a film clip on how he made his unique sponge cake with something as simple as a microwave which he claimed provided the most incredibly lightest texture. famous for his use of nitrogen in the kitchen adria says “nitrogen is a very simple product but everyone associates it with science… like it’s from mars… but please dont stick your finger in liquid nitrogen it will hurt!”


adria said his greatest pressure is respect. “in creativity the worst enemy is monotony. to avoid the monotony it’s important to create a certain amount of chaos. what is chaos? not knowing what to do.” attending this talk was probably as close as ill ever get to ferran adria and elBulli- did you know his 50 seat restaurant takes only 8,000 people a year and a crazy two million apply for places? while i was totally engrossed in his talk i wasnt a huge fan of the q&a time where the editor from good living and 2 sydney chefs asked him questions which sounded so un-spontaneous. another peeve of mine was the amount of people who left their seats while he was talking just so they could secure a book for him to sign at the end. pfft it’s not like you can press pause and rewind to see what youve missed out while you were gone!


after the show there was a mad rush for the queue to get adria to sign their book but what some unlucky people found out was that if you had preordered the ticket + book deal then the book was already signed heh heh and they got kicked off the queue which meant they missed out on the photo lol a giant thank you to aunty nancy (and her sons gf) who got us the tix!


and since we hadnt had any dinner we crossed the street to swissotel for a sugar hit!


‘three treats with chocolate’- milk chocolate velvet cheesecake; dark chocolate with caramel & pear; white chocolate with coconut sorbet. the cheesecake was gorgeously smooth but my favourite part of the dessert was the square of caramel and pear sweet, but not cloying


the drinks were a bit on the strong side haha but very pretty looking at least =P

Menya (Shop TG8, 8 Quay Street, Haymarket) is home to the giant bowls of ramen and to the famed godzilla challege. the boy has been psyched the past month having mini challenges of 2x menya ramen in 15mins for lunch and then feeling nauseous haha


over four times the portion of a menya ramen- over 2kgs the sign exclaims and all for the low low price of $29.90! if you finish the bowl in under 30mins it is free and youve earnt a photo on the wall of fame


the boys line up glasses of water in anticipation. wally was the only challenger game enough to attempt the godzilla with noods. funnily enough they asked the boys to move to the table by the wall i think in case we ate their food lol


and heres the giant bowl of noodles! they opted for the soy based soup over the tonkotsu because they knew that even tho the fatty tonkotsu soup was tastier it was definitely more salty and more filling than the soy based


noods looking slightly scared


the bowl is bigger than his head…


the boys before they begin. they didnt start right away and waited for the noodles to cool down a bit before the waitress started timing them


cleverly they both asked for bowls (at which the waitress replied with ok but you cant share) and noods seemed to have much fun making a mess and dumping out the noodles into the smaller bowls before it could absorb the soup


the supporters cheering them along


fiona and i run outside and snap some fotos of them from the window above


but oh no wally is first to crack!


and noods is struggling


noooooo


lol sadly wally is a massive fail with what looks like half the godzilla bowl of ramen left


and noods we declare an awesome fail with just one bowl of ramen left


the laminated warning they had to read before attempting the challenge- “please stop eating if you are experiencing dizziness or nausea. If you do, please let the staff know straight away. We take no responsibility for any adverse health effects that results from consuming this product” haha they wont be attempting the challenge for a while but theres always next time… and other restaurants =P

‘zumbo cafe is open, you should have your day off there!’ came the sms from bowb last thursday and at just the right moment too as i was contemplating what to do for 3 hours by myself in the city awaiting the boys’ ramen challenge that night. one bus ride later (442 from the qvb!) and im standing in the courtyard of adriano zumbo cafe chocolat (308 Darling St, Balmain (inside Balmain Mall, about 6 stores to the right of the patisserie)


for days, weeks, months we have been waiting for this cafe to open and belle had been awesome enough to give us updates complete with photos


the lights how they make me hungry, like giant mint balls no?


and there be chocolates! $9.50 per 100g


and more chocolates! and macarons at the back are $2each. there are some savoury stuff available but um youre at a chocolate cafe!


the cafe is not that big which gives it its charm i s’pose =P the gorgeous lounge area is a shiny wood paneled room filled with soft cushions of red, black and white


and hung high above was this impressive chandelier which for some reason reminded me of red licorice or twizzlers…


but you dont care about the inside right you just want to see the food! sadly on that first day the desserts hadnt begun and because it IS a chocolate cafe and all the chocolates looked so preety i decided i didnt need dinner and selected 5 to go along with my fabulous hot chocolate. the glass it was small but so deliciously chocolatey (2 days later when i return the glass has transformed into a giant mug whee!). both the fried egg and the rotten egg are my immediate first choices from the chocolate display, the fried egg a disk of white chocolate with a chewy fruity centre and a sprinkle of pepper and the rotten egg a milk chocolate disk studded with rice crispies and a chewy red centre which for some reason reminds me of the cookieman harlequin biscuit centres… the butterscotch is gleefully bitten into and its innards sucked out mmm salty sweet goodness and i selected the unfortunately named red wine cameltoe partly because of the name and partly because it was pink and shiny… apparently it is a pretty common chocolate mould and as bowb says what else can you expect from a 27 y.o boy =P


or a 25 y.o girl heh heh


visit number 2 to the cafe was with foodbloggers lorraine, belle and william, richard, chris and tim. while waiting for everyone to arrive we check out the gourmet traveller mag which had an article on the zumbo king before the lovely counter-girl rachel informed us that the menus werent ready yet and explained to us the 3 desserts that were available. we order 1 of each and before we know it our drinks arrive. lorraine picks the iced cherry chocolate ($4.50), belle opts for the dark hot chocolate and i the milk hot chocolate ($4). my hot chocolate is perfect and i am momentarily silenced and content to drink nothing but this drink for the rest of my life


then our desserts arrive and cameras are whipped out in a frenzy


the famous miss marple concoction from king zumbos patisserie laughs and makes an entrance as the miss marple deconstructed ($13.50)- marscapone crepes with maple & strawberry + orange jellies and i am instantly filled with dessert envy but luckily today we have decided we’re all family and plates are passed around and shared before returning to its original owner.


lorraine picks ‘the younger years’ – hot chocolate fondant with peanut butter icecream and raspberry injection ($13.50) and is rather amused with the syringe and kidney dish. the spoonful i managed to sneak was sublime i love peanut butter in pretty much any dessert


as soon as the words ‘it’s not a hamburger’ ($13.50) came out of rachel’s mouth i knew i had to have it even without knowing what it was lol and i was absolutely delighted because lately ive been on an icecream sandwich phase and my dessert was a chocolate macaron icecream sandwich with a dolce latte gelato and a rice pudding base garnished with crushed up chocolate cookie ‘soil’ we couldnt quite figure out why it tasted like a banoffee pie but hey im not complaining because it was fantastic!


after our desserts went to dessert heaven our group began stumbling off leaving lorraine, richard and i to have a chat with rachel who said she pretty much lives in that cafe arriving super early and staying until close. it’s also nice to know that you can bring the cakes you have bought from the patisserie to the cafe to eat. just as we step out the door we notice mr adriano zumbo himself standing at the coffee window. lorraine and i nudge each other ‘say something to him!’ ‘im shy you do it!’ ‘no way dude!’ he must have heard us because he turned and we ended up chatting with him, finding out his sister works in a morgue so she knows where to source new unused syringes for the desserts and laughing at him because he was covered in permanent marker from being chopper reid at a halloween party


it was great to see everyone again hope we can do it again soon and as for the rest of you go forth and visit the chocolate cafe!

after such an awesome time at the all recipes launch we decided the night was not yet over and that another dessert was in order. for some reason all the taxis decided to avoid us for the next half hour but no matter for we were off to the observatory hotel! or not as we were curtly told by the waitress that the sugar hits had sold out. hpmf. the awesomely friendly concierge sympathised with us when he saw our disappointment and quickly whipped out a copy of the good living which had the list of sugar hits and so we found ourselves calling all the hotels and finding all but one place booked out and so we sped off to the kings cross hotel opposite the hypnotic glowing coca cola sign

Black and white tasting plate: White chocolate panna cotta, Grand Marnier rhubarb and bitter chocolate sorbet with champagne raspberry, and warm chocolate fondant with Frangelico chocolate sauce. the panna cotta had such a weird wobble factor that i couldnt help but poke it every now and then *poke**poke* it was like a poached egg! i wasnt a fan of the pile of rhubard on the crispbread because it tasted like lavosh bread and the raspberries were kinda squishy and mushy bah but the chocolate fondant was so very rich and decadent and nom nom the plate is scraped clean

the girls! and yes im still eating when the waiter took this photo because i uh didnt think it would show and the dessert was looking at me...

‘dya think they’re gonna lock us foodbloggers in a room and then kill us?’ was a question that did the rounds a few weeks ago when an invite to a website launch was received. ‘nah they wouldnt bother feeding us if their intention was to kill us’ came the slightly reassuring response. alot of people still believe blogs are all about the mundane ramblings of the average joe and there has been alot of talk on the blogosphere on whether or not we have the right to write if we are not ‘professionals’ pfft

the problem now with print media is that by the time this seasons fruit and vegetables start appearing at the farmers markets us food bloggers will see it and immediately cook/bake and then blog about it straight away. theres such a huge collection of blogs out there, all with different takes on recipes that when the magazines hit the shelves it feels as if weve already seen it which we have because blogging is so immediate (and free heh). the website launch that we (helen from grab your fork, lorraine from not quite nigella , christie from fig and cherry, anna from morsels and musings, lisa from spicy icecream and kathryn from limes and lycopene) were invited to was for all recipes. all recipes is the world’s largest food-focused social networking website and has recently launched an aussie website where all measurements are in the metric and if youre unsure on how to start a blog you can register as a member, create a profile page and add your own reviews and photos.

step 1: start with one comfortable and unique venue. after a one hour crazy cab ride to surry hills, i found myself climbing up 3 flights of stairs (almost there! the signs encourage) and step into a gorgeous open plan room filled with tea light candles and sparkling fairy lights. in the centre of the room is a long table with namecards that have been strategically placed and are surrounded by bright red chillis.


a nametag! i chortle to myself oh how i feel so special!


step 2: add twenty flavoursome guests. and flavoursome they were! a mix of food bloggers and industry media as well as the reps from all recipes


step 3: stir thru 3 delicious hand-picked authentic dishes. dinner tonight was made from recipes on the all recipes website.


grilled kangaroo and cactus tostada


jamaican prawns


but the star of the night were these absolutely awesome chilli chocolate brownies. crispy crunchy outsides and gooey fudgey chocolatey innards with the perfect amount of chilli heat that was not too high in the burning. i polish off my brownie super fast and start eyeing christies untouched dessert who hands over her plate about halfway thru and then the gorgeous darcie from zing tells me she doesnt eat chocolate and also hands me her plate. i dont argue. 3 brownies are better than 1 =D


step 4: top with good conversation, great wine and a relaxed atmosphere. our food matching wines were from starvedog lane. the bartender also made one sexy mojito mmm


step 5: season with 2 guest speakers – lisa sharples, company president and ian ‘herbie’ hemphill, spice guru. sadly i didnt take any photos when they gave their little talks but this was the awesome gift pack i got- a shiny silver mixing bowl from all recipes and a box of herbies spices. the dinner was a lovely relaxed event and i got to chat to some of the reps from the website who had flown in from the states. it was thrilling to be recognised and be treated ‘like a rockstar’ (heh heh found that on the zing blog) but its great that food bloggers are finally getting some credit. much thanks to all recipes for inviting us to the launch and to darcie for making sure we arrived there and back safely we had an awesome time!

the boy and his work mates are attempting the menya godzilla ramen challenge tonight- over 2kg of ramen in 30mins if you fail it’s $29.90 heh im going just to laugh at them but if you are up for the challenge we’ll be there at 7pm. ill be floating around in the city from 3pm-7pm if anyone wants to have a coffee cos theres only so much shopping i can do =D email me for my mob number to meet and/or about the challenge susanATchocolatesuzeDOTcom