Breakfast in Town Basin

I lived in Whangarei, did you know that?
I moved to a boarding school in Auckland in year 10 and prior to that I lived in Whangarei...

We went to a cafe for breakfast in the iconic Town Basin- being tourists in our hometown.

There were vintage cars on display, cute.

We went to Riverside Cafe...

I got a key lime cake to takeaway for morning tea later that day. It was pretty average... Looked and sounded better than it tasted. The chai latte was great though.

But the bacon and egg croissant with relish was SO AMAZIIING!!
I skipped lunch because I was still full from this. It was perfectly toasted and delicious.

Papa had the french toast, and the bread was so good.

Mama had the pancake stack with bacon and fruits. It was alright, my croissant was definitely better.

This is the outdoor seating. The checkerboard used to have chess pieces on it, so you could play lifesized chess.

Sailboats...



And to conclude,

I am going to start ballet again!

I did it last year (or maybe even the year before) with MEBA, but with my class at 10am on tuesday, I am going to do a lunchtime one with City Dance!

Join me?
http://www.citydance.co.nz/timetable2.htm

Monday 12.30pm

Signed,
Elisa

A little bit about nacho crumbed chicken

I got given a huge bag of corn chips- like a school camp sized one.

After snacking on them at uni and eating 4 meals of nachos, there was still a third of the bag left!!

So I googled 'meals with corn chips' and it came up with a recipe that uses corn chips as a crumb coating for chicken!

I made it for dinner tonight and it was actually DELICIOUS!

I like the crunchy texture, the cheese sprinkled on top and the mayo sauce that keeps the chicken tasty and not dry.

Corn chips make great crumb coating.

Nacho crumbed chicken

some corn chips (maybe half a bag)

1 cup grated cheese

1 cup mayonaisse

1 tsp onion salt (or garlic salt/ chicken salt, anything that will give it a salty flavor)

1 tsp paprika powder (or peri peri, anything that will give it a nice zing)

2 tsp lime juice

500 gr skinless boneless chicken breast

1. Crush the corn chips. You can do this by putting it in the food processor for fine crumbs, but I just bashed it with a rolling pin.
2. Combine in a bowl with the grated cheese.
3. In a separate bowl, stir together mayo, onion salt, paprika and lime juice.
4. Slice chicken breast pieces to portion sizes.
5. Dunk chicken piece in mayo bowl and coat thoroughly with chips. The easiest way to do this is using tongs.
6. Place on a lined tray and bake at 180C for 25 mins, or until the chicken is cooked and not pink.

Serve immediately with salad and potatoes.

I also had garlic bread with this, it was still in the oven when I took the photo.
Oh and I had another piece of chicken beacuse it was just SO GOOD!!!


And to conclude,

I'm contemplating subscribing to GoodieBox! Not only do I enjoy baking, I also love doing makeup as a way to be creative and work with colors.
GoodieBox is a monthly box you receive with 5 'deluxe sized' beauty samples in it- it could be cosmetics, hair care, food- for $25 a month plus $5 shipping.

Do you think it's worth it? Is anyone a subscriber? Let me know!! I'm planning on subscribing next month after I move in to my new house.

Signed,
Elisa

How to impress your employers on your last day

To farewell me from my summer job, my department held a morning tea during the last week.

It was lovely because the other interns in the other departments didn't get one :p

I had brought some orange apricot and cinnamon loaf to Payne, who sat next to me a couple week before and he said I should bring some loaf to morning tea.

What I love about loaf is that it has a lot of flavor as well as texture, and it's in the shape of bread, so it must be healthy!!

It was well received too, all the engineers loved it :)

This one contains one whole apple, peeled and cubed.
So if you eat the whole loaf, you're basically eating an apple.

You know it's going to be good when there's a brown sugar cinnamon combo...

There are 3 layers to this aple cinnamon loaf: the loaf batter, apple and cinamon sugar.

And of course, chocolate! I used a rich Old Gold 70% cocoa block

Apple cinnamon and chocolate chip loaf

1/3 cup brown sugar
1tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup white sugar
115 gr butter, softened
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1/2 block chocolate, chopped
1 apple, peeled and chopped


1. Combine brown sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl.
2. Beat together white sugar and butter.
3. Beat in eggs one at a time until well mixed, then add vanilla essence.
4. Sift in flour and baking powder and mix by hand.
5. Add milk and mix until smooth, folding in chocolate chunks.
6. Pour half the batter in a lined loaf tin.
7. Add half the chopped apples, lightly patting into batter.
8. Sprinkle half the brown sugar and cinnamon over top.
9. Repeat the layers.
10. Swirl the brown sugar mixture at the top with a spoon.
11. Bake at 180C for 45 minutes. Check with toothpick

Firstly I thanked everyone for welcoming me in the team for the past 3 months and told them that my friends have been telling me to quit engineering and start a bakery. So after trying a slice of my apple cinnamon chocolate loaf, they said "work for us and bake for us too!".


And to conclude,

Did I tell you me and Miss Shell attended a cake decorating demo? It was amaaazing! So life changing. We watched the lady from Go Bake roll fondant into roses and butterflies and the color of the sea when it changes tide.
I really want to decorate cakes!!

Signed,

Elisa

A little bit caramel slice for Valentines Day

For the boy who surprised me at my bus stop after work with a bunch of flowers

Read about the first time I made it here

The recipe is the same Donna Hay, just less caramel filling to make it less sweet :)

Caramel Slice

base:
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup brown sugar
125 gr butter, melted

filling:
1/4 cup golden syrup
94 gr butter, chopped
1.5 cans of sweetened condensed milk

chocolate topping:
200 gr Old Gold 70% Dark Chocolate
1 Tbsp vegetable oil (I use rice bran oil)

1. Place the flour, coconut, brown sugar and melted butter in a bowl and mix well to combine
2. Press into a lined slice tin with the back of a spoon
3. Bake at 180C for 15-20 mins or until golden
4. To make the caramel filling, place golden syrup, butter and condensed milk in a medium saucepan over low heat.
5. Stir until butter has melted and the caramel has thickened slightly
6. Pour over cooked, slightly cooled base and bake for a further 20 mins or until golden
7. Refrigerate until cold
8. Place chopped chocolate and oil in a bowl over boiling water and stir until melted
9. Pour over caramel top and spread with the back of a spoon. Add sprinkles if you wish
10. Refrigerate until set then cut into slices

For all the tips on how to melt chocolate successfully and how to cut the slices, read about it in my previous post here

And to conclude,

This cyclone makes me want to stay at home and bake brownies

Signed,

Elisa

A little bit about cupcakes!

I made cupcakes!!

I've never made cupcakes before (can you tell?)

We only had flower drop tips for icing, which is for making small dots around a cake or something.
I think the cupcakes would've looked nicer with plain circular icing tips.
When i go back to Indo, I'll buy some variation of piping tips so I can do roses like Petal Cupcakes

Sprinkles.
So simple.

And chocolate flakes

Mama got several cans of this Lindt chocolate flakes which you stir into a mug of hot milk to make hot chocolate from Sydney.

The recipe for the vanilla cupcakes and the buttercream icing is exactly the same as the birthday cake I made for a friend a few weeks ago.

It is listed in the blogpost here

jt said this is his favorite baking item of mine. He likes them better than my caramel slice!! Which is saying A LOT.

And to conclude,

The most exciting thing that has happened to me this week- Or even this year! Was being mentioned in this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ-6rzTBwOI

I follow her for her makeup tutorials and because she looks like a girl I went to school with.

And she answered my question on her Q&A video!!!

Watch it at the 9:40 mark!

It's even worth it just to watch her try to pronounce my name

<3 u kelly

Signed,

Elisa