BANANA POWER!

Do you ever get so caught up & involved in whatever you're doing that you have no time or even forget to eat? (I do...measuring, blending, sifting, mixing, piping, baking, filling, washing...alot of washing). 

And it's not until your deprived stomach steps in to remind you that you've been neglecting yourself, THEN you stop to pause & agree it's time to re-fuel. 

So what do I do in times like these?...I reach for a banana.

 I call bananas my emergency, power-up food

In addition to it's smooth, creamy texture & sweet taste, it's packed with essential nutrients & vitamins providing an instant & sustained boost of energy in my emergency times of need. (Did you know bananas also contain natural mood enhancers so when you're feeling abit down in the dumps...have a banana!).

So how can I incorporate my functional, emergency food into my sweet treat summer range? 

How about...by adding milk chocolate with a dash of cinnamon. 

Banana Cinnamon Macaron

Banana Cinnamon macaron: banana & cinnamon flavoured macaron shells filled with milk chocolate ganache.

Combining the functional & the indulgent with a dash of the exotic

A sweet treat to be enjoyed with a cup of coffee or tea during a well earned break or after an evening meal with family & friends. 

Where's the third macaron?
(Mmm...a well deserved sweet treat!)

Tell me Dear Readers what's your emergency, power-up food?

MACARONS, CAKE & MONKEY MAGIC A CELEBRATION FOR...ME!

Amongst family & friends there seem to be a lot of birthdays in the month of November. And here is another November birthday celebration but this time is for me.


The Prologue: Macarons


So in celebration of my birthday I share with you one of my first summer range macaron flavours: Raspberry Chocolate.

Raspberry Chocolate Macaron:
 Raspberry macaron shells filled with raspberry white chocolate ganache

When I think of summer...I think of berries

An intense yet delicate raspberry flavour

The Story: Cake 


I love light & fluffy cakes so one of my favourite type of cake is the sponge cake. And as requested every year from Savoy cake shop Mr Petite orders me my favourite sponge cake for my birthday.

My mango sponge birthday cake from Mr Petite

Sometimes the simple things in life can be the most fulfilling & rewarding...

Mango sponge cake: a light, soft, moist & fluffy sponge cake
layered with fresh cream & slices of fresh sweet mango

...Happy Birthday to Me!


The Epilogue: Monkey Magic 


My birthday celebrations ended with a beautiful dinner at Monkey Magic in Surry Hills.

Japanese Restaurant & Bar

Like the Japanese cult television classic, Monkey Magic aims to also take their diners on a journey of Oriental flavours of modern Japanese cuisine with the subtle western influence of New York Flair.

What's inside this menu?

We start with half a dozen of oysters with Yuzu pozu granite & the Salt & Pepper Cuttlefish with bean sprouts, coriander & chilli salad.

Oysters with Yuzu ponzu granite

Followed by a plate of assorted sashimi.

I love sashimi...nothing beats fish in their simpliest & freshest form

For our mains we chose the Soy Braised Pork Belly with apple & ginger puree, salad of fennel, chinese cabbage, orange & chives and the Patagonian Tooth fish fillet.

The Patagonian Tooth fish fillet
(Mr Petite quite enjoyed this dish) 

But the highlight of the dinner was yet to come. Having little room for any more food I passed on the dessert but with Mr Petite's encouragement we ended the night perfectly with a wonderful sweet treat.

Loving this wall feature so symbolic of the Japanese television cult classic

I noticed the tables around us ordering what I had first thought was chocolate (though somehow knew the colour didn't seem quite right) but having witnessed the moans & nods of approval by other diners I guess one dessert to share wouldn't hurt.


We ordered the dessert & as our attentive wait-person returned to the table to fill our glasses she commented "That was lucky it was the last plate!". So what was this dessert that got diners moaning & nodding in approval?

Black Sesame Creme Caramel with red wine poached pear, 
coconut ice cream & pink peppercorn & a puff pastry twist

Red wine poached pear, coconut ice cream & pink peppercorn

Black Sesame Creme Caramel
(it was so smooth & creamy, the nutty black sesame flavour of the creme caramel drizzled with burnt toffee syrup just melted in the mouth)

 It was soooo good nothing was left on our plate!

And what about the day after, post birthday celebrations....

A day at the beach

After weeks of cold & wet spring weather (you can read about it here) the warm sun & blue skies made a surprising appearance.

Does it get any better than this?

Did I mention sometimes the simple things in life can
be the most fulfilling & rewarding?

Tell me Dear Readers who's birthday celebrations were you amongst in the month of November?

IT'S JUST NOT ALL ABOUT ME

The 1st tweet read:
"6 days to go, till Macaron mayhem sat 6th November Adriano Zumbo Balmain pigblood and chocolate, burger, toothpaste, fish and chip ?????" (Oh...is it that time of the year again).

The 2nd tweet read:
"Macaron day 7am tomorrow 65 flavours.." (imagery of him & his bakers working ferociously to meet tomorrow's deadline & demands).

I had read of Adriano Zumbo's Macaron Day offering the sale of 60 macaron flavours at his Balmain Patisserie in celebration of his November birthday last year. So was not surprised & somewhat excited about his repeat birthday celebration of Macaron Day 2010 (what a way to celebrate a birthday!). Not surprised as he further gather's momentum after media exposures from Masterchef & excited, birthday or not, in possibly witnessing the early years of an annual Sydney celebration of the french macaron!

So on Saturday morning after a sleep-in & a lazy brunch Mr Petite & I made our way over to Balmain. Sure enough we saw the queue from afar.

I was somewhat surprised to see the queue was not as long as I had anticipated

Mr Zumbo looking relaxed outside the Patisserie
with his little helper & camera crew

Meeting & greeting customers at the door

Visitors from Melbourne joining in to celebrate Macaron Day 2010

As Mr Zumbo made his way down the queue but stopped short of where Mr Petite & I were standing I heard him say "I think it's time to bring out more macarons". Thinking he was referring to providing more stock for the shop, I was pleasantly surprised as I looked up from my ordering pamphlet to see Mr Zumbo & his little helper returning with 2 trays of macarons asking me if I would like to have one! 

"Thank-you I would love a macaron" as complimentary 
macarons were then offered to the rest of the queue 

Macaron looking enormous in my petite hand
(actual macaron size measured 4cm in diameter)

Cookie Dough macaron
(after the first bite...so this is what raw cookie dough tastes like)

Back to the pamphlet.

We were handed ordering pamphlets listing the 65 flavours & were asked to mark the flavours we wished to purchase & to hand the list to the cashier when ready for payment.

What macaron flavour/s takes your fancy?

But what really got our attention was on the back.

"Purchase any pre-pack macaron box & be one of the first five people to find the Golden Macaron for your chance to win a day in the Zumbo Lab"

Mr Petite was immediately sold wanting me to be "Charlie" & find the "golden ticket".

Macarons seen from the window
as we made our way into the Patisserie

Look how uniform in shape & size the macarons are
 

Loving how the macarons fit perfectly in their trays

Within 10 minutes we were inside the shop.

I have heard his Patisserie is quite small & it is, with the width from the wall to the serving counter the shoulder length of three adults standing side by side

More macaron flavours inside

I was delighted in seeing the endless trays of macarons neatly displayed until I spotted these....

So pretty!

I walked further into the shop to discover
 more pretty creations

Beautiful colours

A work of art

But this is my favourite!

In addition to the pre-pack macaron box, Mr Petite also chose 3 chocolate flavoured macarons.

Time to pay...
(top arrow: Fish & Chips macarons & bottom arrow: Tabaccoroon macarons)
 

Macarons with coffee time!

Chocolate macarons
(from left to right: Mocha, Milo & Choc Zumbo)

Milo was my favourite of the 3 chocolate macarons

 So...did I win the "golden ticket"?

The Fruit pre-pack macaron box

Ta-Da!....No, I didn't

Macarons from the Fruit pre-pack box

More macarons from the pre-pack box

More macarons from the box

After 15 macarons...we were all mac-ed out!

I can't eat anymore

And did I speak to the man himself on his special day? 


Of course... I just couldn't walk away from the Patisserie without thanking the man for his 65 macarons & to wish him a very Happy Birthday!


Tell me Dear Readers how are you going to celebrate your next birthday?