Breakfast

Dream Cuisine Vanilla Slice

Regular readers of Yummy Lummy know of my deep seated love of vanilla slice. Last year I took a driving holiday to Geelong and back and much of that trip focussed on my favourite pastry.This is a photograph of Dream Cuisine Vanilla Slice

Last week twenty Canberra Food Bloggers took a trip to Fyshwick (better known for Australia’s pornography industry, brothels and sex shops) to visit Owen at Dream Cuisine and enjoy his pastries. At the time Owen mentioned that his vanilla slice isn’t a constant feature because they are a little labour intensive and he needs a full complement of staff if he’s going to make them available. He did hint though he may have some ready for this week.

While I was at work yesterday (Friday) I thought I’d give Dream Cuisine a call to see if I should plan a Saturday breakfast in Fyshwick. Owen answered the telephone and said he would get his chefs to prepare some for Saturday. I was stoked.

So this morning I head out to try Owen’s Dream Cuisine vanilla slice. Would it be good? Would it compare with my favourites? Who knows, either way, I knew that the Myrtleford Butter Owen uses and his amazing custard would make me happy. I was pretty confident I’d like Owen’s version because he mentioned caramelised pastry. In my mind that would at least put it into the Gumnut Patisserie league.

So when I arrived there they were in the display case. Four slices of happiness with “Dream” written in icing sugar on the top piece of pastry.

I asked for a flat white coffee and a single slice.

This is a photograph of Dream Cuisine Vanilla Slice

When I checked in using the swarm app I become Mayor of Dream Cuisine 

 

This is a photograph of Dream Cuisine Vanilla Slice, coffee and Bundaberg raw sugar

 

I always like to see Bundaberg sugar at a cafe or restaurant. In my mind it’s the best sugar in Australia and helps me think of my maternal grandparents.

So what did I think of Owen’s Dream Cuisine vanilla slice? As I mentioned on Instagram, it was sensationally dreamy. This is a show piece vanilla slice. There’s no way a Victorian could call this a snot block and if a Victorian did call it a snot block and I was Owen I’d be insulted. Does it meet my expectations for a good vanilla slice? Yes and no. Yes, this is delicious. The caramelised pastry was crisp and sweet and full bodied in flavour. The custard was delicate. It was sweet but not too sweet and it had the right amount of vanilla. All together it was fabulous. But no it’s not my perfect vanilla slice because this is a fancy pastry that tastes really good. For me, my perfect vanilla slice has all this flavour but it also has the right texture and consistency. I want that caramelised pastry to be firm but not soggy and not crisp. I want to be able to bite through it without it fracturing, it needs to break apart. A fork needs to be able to do the same thing. In my perfect vanilla slice the custard won’t squeeze out when pressure is applied to the top and bottom pastry layers either by my teeth or a fork.

I’d highly recommend Dream Cuisine’s vanilla slice to pastry lovers. If you live in Canberra, there’s no excuse, you need to visit Dream Cuisine. It’s not only in Fyshwick. If you’re visiting Canberra, put some time in your diary to make a visit, stay for a coffee and enjoy a treat. The service is great. It’s friendly and you’re served with a smile. They also have good quality containers for takeaway too.

Lake Ginninderra
Lake Ginninderra

I bought my afternoon tea while I was there.

 

This is a photograph of Dream Cuisine Vanilla Slice, lavendar macaron and salted caramel macaron

The lavender and salted caramel macarons are to die for.

Fellow Canberra Food Blogger Tales of a Confectionist also reviewed the vanilla slice

Scrambled eggs Gordon Ramsay style

I thought cooking scrambled eggs by bain-marie like Heston was a little tedious. By chance I came across a YouTube video of Gordon Ramsay cooking scrambled eggs and tried it this morning for breakfast.

Scrambled eggs cooked like Gordon Ramsay
Scrambled eggs cooked like Gordon Ramsay

 

 

I found this method just as easy as Heston’s and less tedious and just as delicious.

When I tweeted this morning that I’d cooked the scrambled eggs Gordon Ramsay style, my friend Sonia asked if that meant that I swore my head off 

 

Fortunately it was so easy I just cooked quietly while listening to 1206 2CC on the radio.

Scrambled eggs Gordon Ramsay style
 
Recipe Type: Breakfast
Cuisine: Australian
Author: Gary Lum
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • Two eggs
  • A good nob of butter
  • A good dash of cream
  • Salt
  • Pepper
Instructions
  1. In a non-stick frying pan crack in the eggs, add the butter and the cream
  2. Turn on the heat to a medium level and start stirring
  3. As you stir gently break the yolks and combine the eggs, butter and cream
  4. As the eggs begin to do their thing and scramble take off the heat and keep stirring
  5. Put back on the keep and keep stirring
  6. If you’ve cooked enough scrambled eggs you’ll know when to take the pan off the heat knowing the eggs will continue to cook a little until to get the eggs onto a room temperature plate
  7. Shoot a photograph
  8. Eat the eggs
  9. Wash the dishes
  10. Spend the day at work pondering how to write the blog post
  11. Write the recipe
  12. Blog (verb) after dinner
 

 

So how do you like to make scrambled eggs?

Scrambled eggs Heston style

I forgot wilted spinach leaves with my scrambled eggs

Oh well I had spinach leaves and it would have been nice to have something green on the plate.

I’ve been watching a bit of Heston Blumenthal on TV lately and I thought I’d give his scrambled eggs technique a go. I normally cook mine in a frying pan in butter and stir a little once every 15 seconds and the whole thing is usually ready in a couple of minutes.

Heston cooks his eggs low and slow in a bain-marie. I found this YouTube video which shows the technique nicely.

 

 

Heston always seems to add beurre noisette and sherry vinegar. I didn’t do this because I was hungry and didn’t have any unsalted butter or sherry vinegar.

The process of making the scrambled eggs turns out to be really easy although it is time consuming. Putting a glass bowl on a saucepan, i.e., a bain-marie is easy and it’s the first time I’ve used this technique, I’ve never even heated chocolate this way. In my mind it just always seemed like an extra effort and I’m a lazy person and especially a lazy cook.

It takes about seven minutes before anything starts to happen and when it does the fluffy folds of eggs start to come together. By the end the eggs are creamy and really nice. The eggs went nicely with the streaky bacon and the bacon spam.

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Scrambled eggs Heston style
 
Recipe Type: Breakfast
Cuisine: Australian
Author: Gary Lum
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • Streaky bacon
  • Bacon spam
  • Eggs
  • Cream
  • Salt
  • Dried flowers
Instructions
  1. Put the bacon and spam into a bench top oven and cook for 20 minutes at 200 °C
  2. Get the water in the saucepan simmering
  3. Break the eggs into the glass bowl and add some cream plus a little salt
  4. Place the bowl over the simmering water and gently stir for about 15 minutes
  5. When the eggs start to come together and look like scrambled eggs take the bowl off the saucepan and put the eggs on a plate
  6. Add the bacon and spam to the plate
  7. Add some dried flowers to the scrambled eggs to make it look pretty
  8. Shoot a photograph
  9. Eat breakfast
  10. Wash the dishes
  11. Write the recipe
  12. Blog (verb)
 

 

A nice big saucepan with water
A nice big saucepan with water
Eggs in the bowl
Eggs in the bowl
Eggs in the ban-marie
Eggs in the ban-marie
Yes my oven is dirty
Yes my oven is dirty
Dried flowers from the Essential Ingredient Canberra
Dried flowers from the Essential Ingredient Canberra
Eggs coming together
Eggs coming together
Eggs are ready
Eggs are ready

2015-02-22_09.10.07_008_GARY_LUM_FB

 

How do you cook your scrambled eggs? 

Local Press Kingston

This morning Bron suggested breakfast at Local Press on the Kingston Foreshore. She was going for a bike ride around there and we could meet at 8 for a bite to eat.

This morning was bright clear and fresh. Local Press opens on weekends at 8 am but there was activity inside and outside prior to 8. The menus are available on the tables and once you’ve made a choose you order and pay at the counter inside.

Local Press Cafe on Urbanspoon

Bron was interested in one of the Local Press juice drinks and enjoyed an orange, carrot and turmeric root juice, which she said was very refreshing. The available other selections included a green drink with kale, celery, banana and spirulina the other was a coconut and passionfruit based concoction.

Orange, carrot and turmeric root juice at Local Press on the Kingstone Foreshore
Orange, carrot and turmeric root juice at Local Press on the Kingston Foreshore (Photograph courtesy of Bron)

My beveridge needs focused purely on coffee. I like the way the cups and saucers are colour coordinated.

Flat white at Local Press on the Kingston Foreshore
Flat white at Local Press on the Kingston Foreshore

The sugar bowls look good on the distressed dining tables.

Raw sugar at Local Press on the Kingston Foreshore
Raw sugar at Local Press on the Kingston Foreshore (Photograph courtesy of Bron)

Yes this plate is big and yes the colours are amazing and yes it was delicious.

Green pea pancake and poached eggs, macerated avocado, corn salsa, feta, chilli jam, mint garnish and smoked salmon at Local Press on the Kingston Foreshore
Green pea pancake and poached eggs, macerated avocado, corn salsa, feta, chilli jam, mint garnish and smoked salmon at Local Press on the Kingston Foreshore

Bron likewise enjoyed her green breaky plate.

Green breaky plate with za'atar coated hard boiled eggs, kale, almonds, avocado, asparagus, quinoa tabouleh, feta, and dill yoghurt at Local Press on the Kingston Foreshore
Green breaky plate with za’atar coated hard boiled eggs, kale, almonds, avocado, asparagus, quinoa tabouleh, feta, and dill yoghurt at Local Press on the Kingston Foreshore (Photograph courtesy of Bron)

Take a look at a perfectly cooked soft yolk in a hard boiled egg 

The cracked open hard boiled egg of the Green breaky plate with za'atar coated hard boiled eggs, kale, almonds, avocado, asparagus, quinoa tabouleh, feta, and dill yoghurt at Local Press on the Kingston Foreshore
The cracked open hard boiled egg of the Green breaky plate with za’atar coated hard boiled eggs, kale, almonds, avocado, asparagus, quinoa tabouleh, feta, and dill yoghurt at Local Press on the Kingston Foreshore (Photograph courtesy of Bron)

Yep, if I could lick my plate I would but using a knife and fork was all I had.

I loved my breakfast at Local Press on the Kingston Foreshore
I loved my breakfast at Local Press on the Kingston Foreshore

After breakfast I went for a walk around Lake Ginninderra. It was a spectacular morning on the lake.

lake Ginninderra from John Knight Memorial Park
lake Ginninderra from John Knight Memorial Park

Have you been to Local Press on the Kingston Foreshore? What did you have to eat and drink?

 

Lonsdale Street Roasters

At this time of year a lot of restaurants in Canberra close for the Christmas New Year (CNY) break. Bron and I thought we’d go to The Cupping Room for breakfast but at 8 am the doors were closed and the chairs stacked on the tables. We went around to Lonsdale Street to look around. Eighty-six and Elk and Pea were closed (we’ll go back later in the year). Lonsdale Street Roasters were open so we walked in. LSR has space in front on the street, inside and out the back. We chose out the back because it was shaded  and because the roasting shed was close by. It looks like the shed had its own lot next to LSR itself. Bron reckons the smell was fantastic. I couldn’t smell it myself. The shaded back was also good because the cool shade provided some relief as the day approached it forecast 34 °C (93.2 °F). 

We ordered food, took a number and found a table. I asked for the muesli and Bron asked for quinoa with avocado and tomato. After we sat down I was told there was no muesli so I asked for smoked salmon, cream cheese and bagel. 

The coffee is good at LSR and the food is too.

Lonsdale Street Roasters on Urbanspoon

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Photograph courtesy of Bron
2015-01-03_08.28.55_003_GARY_LUM
Photograph courtesy of Bron

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Bron said her meal was very good. I’d not tried quinoa before and had a couple of mouthfuls. It was an interesting taste.

The bagels are made in house at LSR and was very good. The salmon was flaky and light. I’d happily eat it again. 

We’ll be back to Lonsdale Street Roasters. I’d recommend it to anyone in need of good coffee and a good meal.