Posts Tagged ‘Food’

Who doesn’t like getting presents right? As a lot of you would know I’m with NuffNang for my blog advertising and I love them to death! As well as organizing my advertising they have also built a community for bloggers which I love being a part of. It’s kind of like a big family and because they are based here in the Asia Pacific area it’s not like talking to someone on the other side of the world!

And they send me presents which rocks!

Outfit-
Skirt and jacket: Angelic Pretty
Stockings- Myer
Beret- Portmans
Shoes- some place in the City, customized

Hmm it feels very heavy!
I wonder what’s inside it?
Open it up and all the Nuffy goodness pours out!

First thing to come out is a $10 Coles Myer gift voucher! Yaaay! Nuffnang is having a competition at the moment where the blogger who spends this voucher in the most creative or frugal way wins a $100 voucher, I have an awesome idea which I’m going to try out tomorrow so wish me luck!

And a lovely letter welcoming me to the Nuffnang family

Guess what? I designed that little guy in the corner of the letter! How cute is it that they actually used my silly sketch on their letterhead ^_^

Now the rest of the awesome stuff…
This is a sample pack of Redken hair supplies for girls! How cool is it that the samples are actually in usable sizes instead of those stupid little packets? I’m going to try it out and let you know how it works on my hair!

And there is a bottle of Blackberry/Vanilla tea from Spring Valley and John West Tuna with Beans. The tea was super yummy! I haven’t tried the tuna yet, I think I might let James have it because he’s a big fan of beans ^_^

And something which will be important later on in this post… a matching pack of Redken hair supplies for boys! Big sample sizes and information books in this one too Also there is a packet of Leggo’s Italian Beef Casserole base thingy which will be my dinner tonight! Thank you Nuffnang for feeding me for a day ^_^

Taadaa! All of the fun stuff together!

I mentioned that Nuffnang is having a competition with who can spend their Coles Myer voucher in the most creative/frugal way so I decided to put my thinking cap on and come up with something fun to do with it…
Did I not mention that my thinking cap is actually the box that my items came in?

Then I decided that instead of entering that competition I would make up my own… May I present “THE MOST CREATIVE USE OF PACKAGING”

I fashioned the tissue paper the presents were wrapped
in into a beautiful gigantic bow!

Super adorable and attractive right? I totally deserve a special prize for creativity and cuteness! Got to make sure it’s straight! Don’t worry I’m going to go buy my actually competition entry tomorrow

Now if you remember I mentioned before you should take notice of the men’s hair products from Redken… I decided to experiment with them on James! He wasn’t so keen on the idea especially seeing as he shaves his head. I said too bad! After chasing him around the room for 10 minutes I finally pinned him down

Apparently it was very cold ^_^ It smelled delicious though!

Make sure to rub it in well, lather rinse and repeat! Poor sad James he looks so miserable… oh well!

He was only sad for a minute though because then this happened…..

Giant afro hair of doom! Very suave! I’m sure I’ll be fighting all the ladies off him with a stick

Anyway if you guys were wondering how to get one of these gift baskets for yourselves, all you have to do is sign up with Nuffnang and they’ll send one out! Here is the link to register, make sure to put my URL in as the “Referred By URL” if you end up joining ^_^

Well I’m off to enjoy my Casserole thingy for dinner now

What’s the coolest free thing you guys have every got/won?

Time for another review!

I’ve been trying to get healthy lately. I know, I know, it’s lame but a diet of only cheese burgers will eventually cause me to not be able to fit into that lovely Jesus Diamante jsk! But I loooove candy and sweets and pretty much everything that’s bad for me!

And so the search for a delicious sweet treat that won’t balloon my waist!

The buzz around this is that it’s actually a healthy-ish snack because it’s got pro-biotics and vitamins and junk in it.

Personally I couldn’t care less as long as it tastes good.

The store just opened up at our local shopping center (Garden City as well as Carindale) so I decided to give it a go.

I ordered a Green Tea Top It with strawberries and mochi toppings. Yes that’s right they have mochi toppings! Here’s what it looks like:

Firstly how cute is it? The presentation was really well done and there were a good number of toppings. The prices are a little expensive, a regular was around $5.95 I think.

The taste was delicious. Normally I’m not a huge fan of green tea flavoured things but this was awesome! So freaking good I can’t even describe it.

Good points:
-Apparently healthy
-So freaking tasty
-Nice staff
-Cute presentation
-Addictive, though maybe that’s a negative!

Now here are the bad points:
-Out of the 5 times I’ve been I was charged 3 different prices for the same item. Possibly just teething problems in a new shop.
-Not really a negative but “Mochi” is spelled “Moochie” and I had to explain exactly what it was to the staff because they had never heard of it, one girl thought they were mini marshmallows ahahahaha!

So then… the final verdict? Well even if it’s not the cheapest thing in the world it’s still delicious so I’ll be going back!

And more importantly it’s made me want to experiment with my own frozen yogurt. I’ve bought some green tea powder and some yogurt so I’ll let you all know the results ^_^

So what’s your favorite healthy snack?

Ok first off let me say that there are a bajillion photos ahead so if you’re on dial up this may not be the post for you… Now without further ado let me present….

Today on the Cooking with Violet and Susie show we will be preparing Mochi which will then be made into Strawberry Daifuku (also known as the yummiest thing on earth).

Here is what you will need:
-1 microwave safe bowl
-1/2 cup of white sugar
-1 cup Mochiko (glutinous rice flour) plus extra for dusting
-2/3 cup of water
-1 punnet of strawberries (or your filling of choice)
-1 chopping board
-1 very sharp knife
-1 spoon
-Optional: anko to cover the strawberries in. Not used in this recipe but a delicious variation.

Please make sure to buy GLUTINOUS rice flour, it is not the same thing as rice flour. Don’t even bother to try to substitute plain rice flour or you’ll end up with a disgusting floury mess.

Also useful to have is a gullible friend who you can trick into doing most of the work. I call mine Susie.
Another key ingredient is a boyfriend with a camera so you don’t get flour all over your nice camera. Silly photos optional.

First get all of your ingredients together and wash the strawberries.

Get your friend to take care of the boring task of cutting the tops off the strawberries.

If you have small strawberries you should use one per Daifuku, if your strawberries are larger cut them in half. This recipe will make around 10-14 Daifuku.

Measure out 1 cup of mochiko (glutinous rice flour) and dump it in the microwave safe bowl.

Also add 1/2 a cup of sugar to the bowl.

While you do something more fun (like getting 2/3rds of a cup of water) make your human slave… I mean good friend… mix the flour and sugar together very well.

Now add a little bit of water and mix it around with a spoon. Don’t add all the water yet.

It should look like this:

I’m sure your arm will be tired from all that manual labour so get your friend to add the rest of the water and mix it up into a runny kind of paste. Kind of the consistancy of honey.

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If she doesn’t do it fast enough make sure to beat her into submission with whatever kitchen appliance is handy…

When there are no lumps pop the mixture into the microwave for 2 minutes. Times will vary depending on your microwave, mine is 1200watts.

You should also leave it to cool for a minute or so or else you might burn yourself. This is a good time for your boyfriend to think of more artistic or flattering ways to photograph you.

Dancing is also a good way to pass the time.

When you finally get back to your dough you may be slightly confused because it looks so gross and weird. Don’t panic.
Spread some mochiko on the cutting board.

Now mix up the dough with your spoon into a giant sticky ball. I can’t think of any way to describe it other than big sticky mess. Be very careful because it will be hot, the mochi retains heat very well.

Roll the dough out onto the cutting board.
Use the spoon to roll it around until the whole thing is coated in flour. The flour will help it be cool enough to touch, don’t be fooled though the inside is still hot and will burn you.

Cut a corner of the mochi (dough) off, it should be just enough to cover your strawberry.

Pull it out so it’s kind of a flat triangle.
Take a strawberry and stick it in the middle, the following few pictures show me covering it and making it into a ball.



style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 311px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_axNtgCrpfKM/Sm1qoeY0F5I/AAAAAAAABIQ/9pc1WMBsWUg/s400/DSC_0132_090723_232.jpg” alt=”" id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363059974852581266″ border=”0″ />Pinch the mochi closed and roll it in the flour so it’s not sticky.
Taadaa strawberry daifuku! Make sure not to let Susie have any yet, she has to make her own!

This section is titled “HOW NOT TO MAKE DAIFUKU”… or what James and Susie did.

DON’T- Get the knife stuck in the mochi…

DON’T- Get your fingers stuck to the mochi…

OCCASSIONALLY- Laugh at your friend for getting her fingers stuck to the mochi…

Especially as she desperately wipes her hands on the cutting board to try and get it off…
DON’T- Try to colour the mochi with food dye after it’s been cooked in the microwave, this should only be done while it’s still a liquid!
ESPECIALLY don’t just pour food dye over the top of it… this is asking for trouble.DO- enjoy having to clean up the food colouring you spilled everywhere.
Totally worth it right?
Now you should make many more! Use up the rest of the mochi!

Taadaa!
Again, take as much time to cam whore as possible, cooking is an achievement and d
eserves to be recorded!

Also make sure to send any beggers away empty handed. I mean you did all the work right? Why should they get any?

See we’re still friends, promise!

Not eat your delicious creation! Enjoy how warm the sugary outside is against the tart cold strawberry. Have a good Iron Chef style judging moment, you could even write a haiku if the mood takes you.
Just try not to choke…
I hope you enjoyed our tutorial! It was all very tongue in cheek in case my sarcasm didn’t quite translate over the internet…

You should all make you own mochi/daifuku, I want to see you results!