Whazzup Doc?

Did you know that one coffee is equal to three teas?
Coffee is a diuretic, that is it sucks the water out of you. It is better to lower your coffee intake rather than increase your water intake to counter more coffee drinking. You should drink more water anyway...

So...try to limit your coffee to 1 or 2 a day, drink tea or like the Chinese do, drink warm water all day!

Crab curry Malaysian stylie!

The picture tells a thousand words, this was made by my step mom who is a legendary cook. Malaysian crab curry is hot and spicy and seems to get the crabiness into the whole dish. I'm not into crabs (too much hard work) in the shell but shelled I love the flavour.

Crab curry is devoured at our place, Im happy to soak up what we Malayalees call "arrappe" with rice or bread

a little bit of cardomom: Meat Feast

a little bit of cardomom: Meat Feast

Who makes great coffee in the CBD?

Well, as a regular coffee buyer let me say there are many great coffee places all over town but I am concentrating where I work which is north of Wynard Station so up towards the northern end of the CBD and relatively close to the Rocks etc.
2 faves, one that has been a fave for nearly 15 years and the other, a newcomer. Lets start with the newcomer, Panzerotti on the corner of Margaret Street and York Street is a segue into Italy. The barista, Francesco is an absolute legend, great barista super fast and a quintessential Italian. The coffees are really really good and I'm told the foods great. Funky interior and quirky staff.

La Rennaissance on Argyle Street Rocks is a segue to Paris. Fantastic cakes and French lunches with brilliant coffee, the rear courtyard is my Sydney secret, go there I guarantee you will wonder why anyone apologises for Sydney. It has everything. During the day, you can see the expert cake makers at their craft as the kitchen is pretty open. A must see and if you are ever needing to buy a cake and you're in town I guarantee you wont be dissappointed if quality is important.

Kikas Tapas

OK last night we met a pair of desparate housewives Anuka and Jessy had been in town for a work conference and spent the last bit of the afternoon on some retail therapy in Paddington, I did feel my credit card shuddering from time to time...
The husbands Aj and me with trio of kids all slightly frazzled met at this Tapas place in Victoria Street behind Vinnies that they loved. I was worried thinking kids and black skivvies but surprisingly very short on attitude in the streets and kids looked at as cute rather than oh how daggy....

The Tapas was surprisingly flavoursome and whilst a bit pricey we ate well and for me the surprise was a Spanish coffee called the bon bon. Basically a shot of expresso with a layer of condensed milk at the bottom!!! Very nice but in Malaysia it is called Kopi O and comes in a massive glass made with Chinese instant coffee-also very nice!!!!

After that, walking up Victoria Street honestly a gelato place called Messini great traditional gelato and what looked like awesome Italian gelato cakes-looking very handmade. I had the malted chocolate, just like Milo but ice cream!

Topped off an excellent dinner with more calories......

All you men out there who think they cant cook

You know who you are, easier to just say you dont know? Well, this blog is the culmination of someone who watched and watched and ate and ate and thought how cool if you could create something?

The Womens Weekly Cookbooks are great as they have pictures and sensible recipes, the first one you should get is the Basic Cookbook, turn to page 88 and whip up some pikelets!!!

Fresh lemon sugar and honey and you have breakfast that you will put a smile on anyone!

If you want to get posh, find some nice dark chocolate and shave some as they are cooking!!