A little bit about whoopie pies

Miss Shell woke me up with a txt asking if I was doing anything that day.

I said I was going to Newmarket so we scheduled a shopping trip.

"I'll pick you up at 12," she said.

"What! That's half an hour away, I'm still in bed?!"

I didn't have time to have breakfast, so we headed to Whoppie on Nuffield St to use her vouchers! So kind of her to take me.

Whoopie store is right next to Kikki K. It's a small walk-by store with minimal seating and great store display.

They sell whoopie pies, cake pops, milkshakes, whoopie sundaes (which are whoopie pie with ice cream and sauce), coffee and my favorite Harney & Sons tea.

They also do birthday cakes and event catering! Check out their site linked below...

Monday - Friday 9:00am-6pm (Friday till 8pm)
Saturday 9.30am-4:30pm & Sunday 10am - 4:30pm

http://www.whoopie.co.nz/

Nuffield St, next to Kikki K

After seeing their stall at the Foodshow, I've always wanted to try a whoopie pie and this time I had the just the person to go with!

Vanilla bean & Berry, Lemon & Coconut and Multi flavor cake pops for $3.50 ea

From left: Blackcurrant Cinnamon, Jaffa (gluten free), Jam Donut, Peanut Butter Choc Chip, Red Velvet, Chocolate Hazelnut, Banana Walnut & Salted Caramel, Rosewater & Mixed Berry Cream Cheese, Milk Chocolate Ganache & Caramel Popcorn... $5 each

And then they had these mini ones! So cute! I think they were about $3.50 ea

The tea they serve; my favorite brand

We got ours in a cute box

2 cake pops and 2 whoopie pies;
Mixed flavor and Vanilla Bean Berry cake pops and
Chocolate Hazelnut and Banana Walnut & Salted Caramel whoopies

Oh my, I tell you the salted caramel icing in that banana whoopie... so amazing.

I will be back to try their other flavors; Mint Chocolate, Apple Crumble, Pina Colada and Caramel Popcorn.
Oh and those whoopie sundaes...


And to conclude,

I have had a GREAT holiday so far; Thai team commissioning night, Lauren's party, jury service...
Today I am off to Waiheke for a day (spontaneous decision) then starting my new internship at Auckland Transport next week ;)

Signed,

Elisa

Twenty One

I turned 21 on 9th October. And I felt very very loved and special all day Wednesday!

I woke up to birthday Snapchats, including this gorgeous one...

thanks kiki <3


Lauren took me out to dinner!

We went to Atico Cocina
A very nice, chilled, comfortable and open South American restaurant at Victoria Park.

Their website is here including their menu and info on function room

The restaurant was one big open room. Brightly decorated, with couches and even a swing seat in the corner and a large bar in the centre.

 

Our drinks yea! Can't remember what they were called but it was real delicious cocktails.
Sweet and a bit on the strong side
My first cocktail!

Jamaican chicken jerk.
Jerk chicken breast, creole okra, plantain chips with fennel and pineapple slaw.

This is what I had and I tell you, the chips were AMAZING.
Where can I get some more??

I just looked up what plantain was: it is actually a fruit! That looks almost exactly like a banana but does not taste like it at all. So good...
The chicken was spicy however, but it was very tender and oh so juicy.

Lauren's roast pork fillet; Filete de cerdo dulce, the signature dish.
With chorizo stuffing, chilli apple glaze, cassava puree, pico de gallo and watercress.
Again, delicious.

We then went to dessert night with the 2013/ 2014 committed student leaders of Auckland Studentlife.

White choc mudcake, caramel latte and Henry Yeah's strawberry sponge cake.

We each got given a book wrapped in ribbon... and ended up being wrapped in the ribbon ourselves

And I came home to this!! 21 things from my long-time friend, Hayley
It came in a massive box of parcel, gift wrapped and in a NAUTICAL box!!
Lotions, NAUTICAL napkins, chocolate, cupcake lip gloss, notepad, tissue pack, teddy bear and the first key on a bracelet!

Thank you so much

Our little neighbours popped by today and gave me a little gift too!
Purple party eyeshadow and body butter.

A delicate handkerchief all the way from Whangarei

However the first gift of the day was this.
Hand delivered by a man in a formal wear who waited for me at my bus stop
I've wanted this perfume for a while! I LOVE THE SMELL
Thank you... <3

What a beautiful card! Witha  rhyming poem inside too!
I was just looking at those notebooks yesterday!! And I was searching for a day planner yesterday too! Perfect.

Cake tester, sprinkles and cookie cutters <3
Thank you

So sweet and so thoughtful! Thank you

I made Abby write in it too and she was self conscious that her handwriting would spoil the book...
I think her handwriting looks like the printed font.

Along with the Moschino perfume, it came with samples. I thought it was funny; Taylor gave me 'Taylor' by Taylor Swift.

Most surprising: Secret Blessings.
I got told by Abby to go to the locker, and I found these!!
I was so excited when I saw the Lush packet and SO SURPRISED when she got me what I had been wanting since the start of the year! Lip scrub!
Cause after radiation, my mouth and lips go dry really quickly, but I tell you I've used the scrub twice already (tastes so good) and it makes your lips supple and soft.

Can't wait to scoff those macarons as well. I've only ever had the cappuccino ones and they are gooood.

Thank you Secret Blessings. You know who you are (I don't!)

At our group meeting, I was greeted by my engineering boys with sour skittles and Bueno.
How did you guys know Bueno is my favorite chocolate?!
Aww <3 so touched

My long time friend delivered this to my mailbox with a hilarious card that had all the stuff we bonded over during Year 12/ 13 ... dear me

I love... Kikki K!

My family gave me a printed photo album! So nice. I'll show you some time

My brother made me breakfast/ brunch!

 They were nice waffles, even if it did take him an hour to make and he had to wake me up to ask why the mixture was lumpy and if the egg whites were stiff enough :p hahahaha learning curve

And then I heard a "YAAAY" and the first waffle was served!

A couple of you have been asking about the whipped peanut butter.
Thank you Nina for recommending it to me!! It is light, not sticky, slightly denser texture than whipped cream and most importantly doesn't get stuck on the top of your mouth.
I got it from Countdown!

And then Google gave me a birthday greeting ;)


And to conclude,

I am getting an external flash for my Canon 600D courtesy of the parentals
If you have tips on what to purchase/ where to purchase an entry-level flash, let me know please!!

Signed,
Elisa

A little bit about lamb and feta meatballs

I don't really eat lamb- like at all. But this one time, Lauren cooked us some lamb and feta meatballs and they were pretty good!
So we had it again and I want to share the very basic, simple recipe that anyone can cook.

I had a hard time choosing the feta. Greek feta, sheep feta, goat feta, cow feta, buffalo feta, traditional feta. WHICH ONE??
Then I thought, since we were having lamb, might as well get sheep feta. It's like eating a whole sheep; the meat and the milk.

All you do: mix the mince and crumbled feta and roll into balls.

Place in an ovenproof dish after frying and pour pasta sauce on top

20 minutes in the oven and it's ready to serve over pasta!

Lamb and feta meatballs

700 gr lamb mince
180-200 gr of feta
oil for frying
500 gr pasta sauce (about one jar)
herbs
pasta

1. Crumble the feta and mix with mince.
2. Roll into balls and fry in a greased frying pan until browned.
3. Place in an ovenproof dish and pour pasta sauce and season with herbs.
4. Cover and bake at 180C for 30 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, cook the pasta until al dente.
6. Serve lamb and feta meatballs over pasta with more cheese.

Serves 4 hungry elisas and laurens

Very very easy recipe that requires little energy. Making you hungry?

 

And to conclude,

The reason we were lookin pretty is because we were going to Laurie's birthday celebration that night!
1950s theme complete with music to swing dance to!

Strawberry and vanilla cupcakes topped with a jaffa

And we had floats!!

I thoroughly enjoyed myself, especially watching the Webb siblings dance.

Signed,
Elisa

A little bit about neenish tarts

Sad story:
I found a recipe to this yum as Choc chunk banana bread to make for jt (cause he loves bananas). And I set aside 3 bananas to brown up. However they took aaages to brown, I even put it in a container with an apple and hid it from sunlight etc and it took like, over a week! When they did become brown enough, I got sick and lost my sense of taste. And when you can't taste, baking and cooking feels pretty useless, you have no idea if it's good or bad, it's like blind baking.
But I'm cured now! However... the bananas turned mouldy :((((

It was so sad.
So today I decided to make neenish tarts for the man instead.

Sorry for the lack of 'making of' photos, I didn't have time to fleet back and forth between my camera and the mixing bowl...

Neenish Tarts 

PASTRY
100g butter
100g sugar
1 egg
1 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt

FILLING
4 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp sweetened condensed milk
4 Tbsp icing sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice

ICING
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
3 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp butter
100g chocolate buttons (I used Cadbury dark chocolate)


PASTRY: 1. Cream butter and sugar
2. Add egg and beat well
3. Sift dry ingredients and add into creamed mixture.
4. Mix well and knead onto a floured board.
5. Using a rolling pin, flatten pastry dough into 5mm thick sheet and use a round cutter to cut out pastry according to the size of the pastry/ muffin tins.
6. Spray pastry/ muffin tins with oil and lightly set each pastry round into the bottom of the tin and prick bases with a fork.
7. Bake at 180C for 12 minutes or until slightly golden.
8. The bases will puff up slightly. When they’re out of the oven, lightly press the base flat with a teaspoon.

FILLING: 1. Combine ingredients into a bowl. Fill cooled bases with a tablespoon of filling, careful not to overfill.

ICING: 1. Sift icing sugar into a bowl.
2. Add milk and butter and stir over a bowl of hot water until well mixed.
3. Ice half the tarts with the white icing.
4. Melt chocolate buttons.
5. Pour into a piping bag and pipe over the remaining half of the tarts.
6. Leave until set.

Just because the chocolate isn't iced on smoothly doesn't mean it don't taste delicious!!

I'm actually really proud of my pastry making. It tastes good and the texture is perfect.
But it was so time and energy consuming (rolling the pastry) next time I will just buy frozen sweet shortcrust pastry from the grocery store.

I hope jt will like these :)


And to conclude,
We went to The Food Truck Garage the other week

Click here for menu

They have delicious, healthy and affordable food. I was so satisfied...

Papple Dog (pork and apple hot dog) $8

Tequila chicken tortillas.
This was aired on the Food Truck show Season 3 Episode 11. The recipe is here

TV1 8pm on Sundays! "Serving NZ's healthiest fast food"

Food truck garage
City Works Depot
90 Wellesley St West
Auckland
Fri- Sat 11am-10pm
Tues- Thurs, Sun 11am-9pm
Closed Mondays


Signed,

Elisa