#122 - Afternoon Tea (aka further research)

In which we go to afternoon tea and call it research
LM and I are continuing on our quest to have afternoon tea in as many places as we can.  We put it under the heading of "research" but this is the only kind of research which comes with snacks.
LM had been to a couple of the afternoon tea options available, so today we went to the one at Orchids at the Halekulani - gorgeous setting as always and a beautiful afternoon to match.


Tell me what seems a little off about this picture:  the self-professed owner of the sweet tooth (LM) had a blueberry rooibos tea sans sugar.  The self-proclaimed owner of no sweet tooth whatsoever (yours truly) had the Golden Assam with sugar.  Somehow in the excitement, I forgot to take a photo of the "Tea" portion of our Afternoon Tea.  Loved the scone and madeleine (the shape, for us, determines whether or not this is a madeleine, so as delicious and buttery as it was, this was a Not-Madeleine).

Tea Sandwiches with a twist
We started with the savory because...well, because we wanted to have the sweets as desserts.  I started from what sounded like the least strong to the strongest flavors.  There was the traditional cucumber sandwich with a twist, the twist being cream cheese, not butter.  Then the ham and watercress rolled sandwich - actually not bad.  The chicken and horseradish sandwich has the peanut crust (top of the photo) - there was some apricot (dried?) in the mixture as well - with the peanuts, almost a peanut buttery flavor - initially odd until LM said it was close to satay chicken.  And finally the smoked salmon with capers on...rye?  The sandwiches were interesting but couldn't top the scones which came with a lemon curd, a strawberry (?) jam and clotted cream.

We have been blessed (or is it cursed?) with standards which aim for perfection - standards which even the Chefs who taught us occasionally do not meet to their satisfaction.

Pretty is as pretty does
I have a feeling our very kind waiters thought we were crazy.  We looked, we oohed, we ahhed, and then we took the food apart.  We did the tasting by individual elements, then as a whole.  Of course top marks for presentation - the desserts were so pretty that I have vowed I will probably try some of these presentations.

However - yes, there is always a "however".  There seemed to be an awful lot of gelatine in the desserts - both in the lemon curd of the layered blueberry thing (left) and the lavender cream of the violet topped dessert (right).  Whether it's a matter of making sure the desserts set correctly so that they didn't run all over or not, the consistency of somewhere between a custard/curd and a jelly was just slightly off-putting.  Or perhaps there has been a new trend in texture of which neither of us was aware.

In any case, discussion about the technical elements led to stories about the things that went wrong in class (yes, we are still haunted by Ghosts of Classes and Bad Exams Past).  Also discussions of LM's forays into more stable creams or what we want to try again or our nightmare desserts which we will never attempt again.  (For instance, I will never attempt a sugar sculpture again, for obvious reasons.)  We sorely missed some members of our little posse.

The good thing about doing a tasting with a friend is that I felt no shame in not finishing my desserts.  Or the sandwiches.  Or picking out all the raisins (currants?) in my scones with my fingers.  But we do have more ideas of things for each of us to try and a cooking date since today we ate - the change in schedule dictated by the days on which afternoon tea was available.  It also made us feel like we didn't do such a bad job with our student tea (or at least, speaking for myself, I felt like we did ok despite my large screw up with a huge batch of chocolate mousse for the raspberry and chocolate Galaxie).

So until next time, may you find that your best is good enough and hopefully, better than good!

#99 - More eating...

There was a really cold and wet night when I just wanted mac 'n cheese.  I didn't have any macaroni so noodles instead...this was with cauliflower and some leftover bresaola.  Great comfort food, totally not a diet food.


A quick trip home for a wedding - a rather large wedding.  Just before departure:  Wagyu burger (at the airport lounge - by Neil Perry?  Not sure if this is like the one they have at Rockpool but it tasted a lot like how I remember a Big Mac tasting.)

Then the wedding (I am very jetlagged).  I can't remember if I packed the dress to bring back with me.  I think I forgot it...I also forgot that since it was Hawaii, there was a chance that I would know someone at the wedding.  The Punahou connection was a live and well - somehow that seems to come out but it works pretty well as an ice breaker.


I'm not sure what other people consider large, but I think this one was 500 people (a few  no-shows, apparently).  Maybe it was that we had all spread out over the venue grounds over the course of the evening but it actually didn't feel very crowded.  Of course that could be due to the jetlag which accompanied my attendance.  Having tried it, I wouldn't recommend getting off the plane and going to a wedding just a few hours later.  Unless you don't care what you look like in photos, of course.  I'm vain enough to care.  The wedding was really nice, taking place on the lawn of the Waialae Country Club and facing the ocean.  The day had started out cloudy and wet but cleared in time for a lovely sunset and a warm afternoon.


Anyway - wedding aside, of course there was lots of food when I went home so without further ado:

Right:  Early Sunday morning - still jetlagged.  I had a coffee and read a book on the Popes while the boys went for an early morning...is it paddling if it's in a 1-man canoe?


Surf was up and there was a bit of a dunking.  Apparently the 1-man canoes are tippy.

Below:
Super early on a Monday morning (they practice at 6am).  I just took pictures and congratulated myself on being awake so early.  Left:  boys paddling back hard (either the 1/4 mile or the 1/2 mile, I can't remember).  Center:  where the coach was standing while watching the canoe go down and come back.  Right:  I don't know why I took this (attempt at being artistic or testing out the focus button).

Right:  The little red car belonged to one of the guys in the boat.  Kind of cute that his car matched the canoes and the Outrigger Club colors.


Left:  We also had afternoon tea at the Halekulani Hotel.  I hadn't done a birthday thing for one of my friends because I'd been out of town.  We watched people going to a wedding - it was quite a busy day that afternoon.  Some people watching as well as enjoying the cool breezes.  I took a photo of the chocolate mousse cake - it was pretty good although it felt a little heavy on the gelatine.  One of the guys (I've forgotten which one) didn't like the little crunchy bits in the middle but I liked them - they were kind of like cocoa pops or something - chocolate-y, crunchy round balls.


Grilling on the BBQ - it was that kind of weather and it's an easy way to do dinner.  There was a night of stuffed vegetables - another one which was great in theory but execution was a bit lacking.  The stuffed peppers turned out really well because it was closed but the meat in the stuffed zucchini dried out because it was exposed to the oven while the zucchini cooked.  Note to self:  cover the stuffing next time (Mom's suggestion).


Cheese sauce is a great way to eat the veggies.  Totally unhealthy, at least the way I do it, but if it gets people to eat veggies who cares?  I got lazy and didn't measure for the sauce so I don't know if it's been a little watery because I put in too much liquid or because the veggies released more water when I put the whole thing in the oven.

Below:  Breakfast with my sister using leftovers:  Steak, eggs and bacon bits (because bacon makes everything better).  My plate is the one with white rice (very local) and GY's plate has mixed grains (from Trader Joe's) - my niece prefers my sister's mix.  So do I.

(Another) breakfast at Koa Pancake House.
I wasn't hungry but I had to try their mixed breakfast - kalbi (BBQ Korean shortribs) and eggs with pancakes.  I didn't get a photo before the egg/s(?) disappeared of GY's plate but you can see the remnants.  We didn't get through everything but it was all delicious.  And a much better deal than a brunch that I had in Sydney last September (AUD$20 for coffee, fresh apple juice, 2 pieces of toast and a couple of pieces of smoked salmon).

We had a morning where GY's housemates had leftover lobster from Chinese food so I made lobster omelettes.  A couple of glum faces that day so when we BBQed that night, there was an injunction "don't eat all the lobster" so that my sister could have lobster omelettes the next day.  Lobster is much better with garlic butter than lemon butter.  BBQ of kaffir lime and lemongrass shrimp (requested by my sister), garlic steak and broccoli with cheese sauce.

Birthday breakfast for my sister:  lobster omelettes, garlic Hamakua and oyster mushrooms, bacon and rice -

Birthday dinner:  courtesy of CPK (my slice of cake on the left of the middle photo).

Then it was time to come back to Sydney.  The flight left a bit late - there was a slight delay initially, then another one when one of the passengers failed to board so they had to unload the luggage.  Am horribly jetlagged and sick - trying to figure out whether it was just the usual random post-travel bug or the remnants of a migraine from last week.


There were some unhappy babies on the plane - to be expected when you are travelling at a time which coincides with school holidays.  Dawn photo - a slight crescent over Double Bay - taken after waking up at some unholy hour due to jetlag.

Until next time, happy and safe travelling.