Currently craving Food Fest 365!

I read a post on Saveur about National Eggs Benedict Day.  Not entirely sure which "nation" was celebrating this day, but I was keen to jump on the bandwagon.

Food Fest 365!, by Yvan Lemoine, is the officially fun food holiday cook book - a different holiday food for every day. 

For those of you who also enjoy eggs benedict you will have to wait until April 17 to celebrate the day, but you can eat eggs benedict any other day without the celebration!

In anticipation of purchasing the book, G and I decided to join in the national celebration, and enjoyed a slight variations on the eggs bene - smoked salmon instead of ham!

Toasted English muffins, smoked salmon, poached eggs, hollandaise and cracked pepper - delicious!

Ticings score!

woohoo - I ordered some cake tattoos.  Specifically I bought ticings:

My favourite is probably the sausage dogs above, but the dragons below are adoreable too!I think the mini ticings are the best - still plenty of room to do some decoration whether it's with cachous, more icing or shredded coconut.

Currently craving: cake tattoos!

Have you heard about cake tattoos?  There are a few brands out there - just Google 'edible cake tattoo' or 'edible cake transfer'  The idea is simple, edible paper with cute prints to decorate the tops of cupcakes!

I think my favourite is Ticings - have a look at their website here!

Ticings have flowers/plants, little sausage dogs, a variety of 'happy birthday' plaques and even some transfers that look like sushi!  The Ticings transfers are round and go on cupcakes.

If you are after something a bit more 'modern' have a look at Duff - here.  You can use these ones on the tops or sides of cakes, or cut them up and use for cupcakes (or cookies).

I've tried to find Australian versions, but the best I have found is Disney prints!  I'm a little bit past the princess stage though.

You can also send companies photographs and they will print it out onto edible paper and you can put that on top of cake - but that creeps me out a little to tell you the truth.

Sugar thermometer

Obtained!  I was lucky enough to be given one for my birthday recently.  Now I need to make the rosette cookies I have talked about for a while now...

Update - americolor food writer pens

I only blogged a short time ago about how I wanted a set of the americolor food writer pens (post here).  And G gave them to me!

They came with a martini shaped cookie cutter...

I have already had some fun with the textas:

Americolor Gourmet Writer Food Decorating Pen

Goodness me, I would love to get my hands on these!

You can get black, Christmas sets (red and green), 10 colour sets...  and there are some amazing pictures of how very clever people have used these.  One of my favourite examples is the decorated cookie.

I particularly liked the post about drawing on hardened fondant to make themed cupcakes (post here) but there have also been a number of posts about using the pens to decorate marshmallows (post here).  I love how simply you could decorate a cake or cupcake and really make it something special with these pens, some corn syrup and some sparkles!

Now to find somewhere to buy them in Australia...

Woohoo - crazy salt!

A fair while ago I blogged about Jane's Krazy Mixed-Up Salt and how much I wanted it! Now I have it!

Smoked sea salt - update

Located a box of the Maldon smoked sea salt (blog post about how I wanted to buy some here).  Here it is in our kitchen:

Currently craving: sugar thermometer

Now I have the rosette mould, now I need a sugar thermometer so I can follow Martha's recipe - G has promised a thermometer now that I have a reason to need one. 

Rosette iron - update

Stalked eBay USA and got one!  It came with 4 cookie moulds, 3 tartlet moulds and a double prong and a single prong!

Yay!

Currently craving: rosette cookie iron

So I was watching a Martha Stewart podcast called Rosette Cookies and I absolutely have to make them!  You make a thick batter and then dip a cast iron mold into the batter, then into hot oil and deep fry the batter for a couple of minutes or so.  Then you pull the cooked batter (the rosette cookie) off the mold and tada! Rosette Cookie!

Info about the molds here and the Martha Stewart recipe here.

I have been stalking Ebay USA to try and get the molds...

Jane's krazy mixed up salt

You used to be able to get Jane's Krazy Mixed Up Salt in the supermarket when I grew up in Melbourne, but then it disappeared off the shelves.  It's an American product, details here.  We could only get the 'plain' version, but there are many others, as you can see on the website.

However, it hasn't been available in Australia for a LONG time - not that I have been able to locate anyway.  So I was very excited when I saw it at a supermarket near my apartment when I lived in Japan.  I bought a few packages, and gave one to G's parents, who also love it. 

Unfortunately I am coming to the end of my final shaker.

Apparently I am not the only one in Australia who loves this salt. I have found a blog called manthatcooks and one of his readers did some research and found an Australian stockist:

Exclusive Food Houses
181-187 Chesterville Road
Moorabbin. VICTORIA

So I will have to give a stockist list from them ASAP. 

Smoked tasmanian salt

G's parents went to Tasmania and came back with some amazing stories about what they had eaten, along with a few samples for the rest of us to try!  The dark chocolate covered fresh raspberries were pretty spectacular.  They also brought back something pretty abnormal - smoked sea salt (Maldon brand, website here).

For some reason, the Tasmanian stockist is not listed on the Maldon website, though there is one Australian stockist of the smoked salt listed (F Mayer imports) so I just need to figure out how I can order some to be delivered to me in Canberra. 

Received - M Cups

You may recall that I have previously said I loved the m-cups - Matryoshka measuring cups.

Lucky me - I was given them for Christmas by my friend X and his gf. 

Currently craving: Silpat

Everytime I watch Martha (Stewart) bake biscuits she always has her trays lined with a silpat. Click here to see the silpat

It's basically a baking sheet liner, made out of silicone and fibreglass.  It's super easy to use (just lay it on your baking sheet), fine for high temperatures (up to 250 degrees C), easy to clean (wipe with a damp sponge, NEVER use a brush or scraper) and is good for up to 3000 uses.

I really want one... and I have found an Australian stockist! Australian stockist of Silpat - now I just have to go home and measure my baking sheets.

Currently craving: Matryoshka Measuring Cups (M-cups)

I love these Matryoshka measuring cups: http://www.rawspace.com.au/product.cfm?id=1415

The description:
This set of 6 dry-measure cups nests neatly just like traditional Russian matryoshkas. They accurately measure 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 3/4 and 1 full cup, and they're built from heavy-duty, food-safe, long-life engineering plastics.

My excuse to buy them would be for the 1/3 and 2/3 cups - my current set does not contain that size!