High Tea at Rochelle Adonis

This weekend, I finally had the oppourtunity to go to high tea at the renowned Rochelle Adonis in Highgate. I had always wanted to go there, but never seemed to have the right occasion, but one of my dear friends was going there to celebrate a belated birthday so I jumped on the chance. 

The tearooms in Highgate are really cute, kind of eclectic with things likes mismatched teacups and saucers, and vintage cutlery. Overall the ambiance is very nice, although quite noisy when the seating is full. You can book seats on a high or low table, and they also have 'private' areas if you have enough people to book a whole table that are sectioned off with organza.

The high tea is different to standard high teas I've experienced before, where they normally present a 2-3 tier stand which has all the savoury/sweet foods on it. At Rochelle Adonis, the high tea is presented in two courses plus a palate cleanser in the middle. I like this idea, as it stretches the experience out and it takes longer for you to eat and enjoy the unique offerings. The cost is $55 per person, which may seem a bit steep, but the price includes two individual pots of tea or french press coffee, and considering the quality and amount of food provided I did not feel it was unreasonable at all.

To start the afternoon off, tea orders were placed from an extensive tea menu. There are your standard teas like earl grey and English breakfast, or more unusual offerings like Vanilla Berry and Moroccan Mint. I chose a pot of Lemongrass & Ginger to go with my savoury course. You could also choose french pressed coffee instead, or purchase other coffees or hot chocolate for extra.

First up was the savoury course. We had a few vegetarians and food allergies in our group, and I noted they were very accommodating, providing specially made alternatives. There is no standard menu, it changes daily based on what the chefs cook on the day.

 

Turkey and Cranberry Terrine: This one was not my favourite, mostly due to the texture, but it was okay.

 

Cucumber Sandwich: A traditional high tea sandwich, but I do not like cucumber so this was passed onto a friend. They said it was really good, it had a herb aioli as well.

Celeriac Soup with Sage: This hot soup was creamy, rich and really delicious. The consensus around the table was that this was one of the favourites.

Smoked Cod with Champagne Batter: I loved this one, it was a great combination of the salty, smoky fish with the batter.

Sweet Potato Roulade with Pesto: This was a nice combination, but I would have preferred if this was hot rather than cold.

After the savoury course we were given a palate cleanser. I believe this was a strawberry sorbet. This was lovely, and not too sweet.

Before the dessert course, drink orders were taken again. This time I opted for the coffee (no picture though). Then the dessert course was laid on the table ready to eat.

My serving:

I forgot to take individual photos of these so here's what they are starting left and going clockwise:

Quince and ricotta cake: This was a layered cake with quince paste and ricotta cream, I really liked this one, it also had a slight orange flavour as well.

Vanilla bean parfait with lamington rocky road: They make the ice-cream in house, and the combination of the coconut and rocky road was really yummy. 

Meringue with passionfruit cream and macerated strawberries: This was lovely and light.

Nougat tart: This was without a doubt the best treat from the high tea, the pastry was buttery and the nougat sweet and sticky.

Overall I had a lovely afternoon and left feeling really satisfied but not sickly full which was nice for a change. If the right occasion came up I would love to go again and sample a different menu, and try some of the other teas. They also have a cake stand at the checkout and a small store selling some lovely things like teacups, and hand made nougat if you're looking for a gift.

Riette

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Beef Osso Buco Recipe

I've been loving my slow cooker this winter, especially since having a baby because I can just whack a bunch of things in there in the morning, and by dinner time we have a delicious meal ready to go. 

Instead of doing my usual beef stew, I thought I'd try making Osso Buco, a dish made traditionally with veal shanks. I don't like to eat veal, so made it with beef shanks instead and it still turned out great. Its such an easy meal with only a small amount of prep required, but tastes like you've spent all day cooking!

Ingredients

1 kilo veal or beef shanks (cross cut)

2 tablespoons plain flour 

1 tablespoon olive oil 

2 medium red onions, coarsely chopped 

2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 medium carrots, thickly sliced 

2 sticks celery, thickly sliced 

410g can crushed tomatoes 

2/3 cup (165ml) dry white wine 

1 cup (250ml) beef stock
2 teaspoons dried Italian herbs 

2 tablespoons tomato paste 

Cooked polenta, to serve

Coat the veal or beef in the flour, and brown in a deep pan with olive oil.

Remove the browned meat, and add the prepared onions, garlic, carrots and celery to the same pan. Cook for around 5 minutes until starting to brown and soften.

Add the cooked vegetables to the bottom of the slow cooker. Place the browned meat on top, and then add the tomatoes, tomato paste, wine, beef stock and herbs on top. Turn on the slow cooker to low and cook for at least 6 hours or until the meat is tender and falls off the bone. 

The result:

I served this with creamy polenta, the perfect winter meal!

Give it a go, you'll love it.

Riette

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July iHerb Haul

Note: This is not a sponsored post, I have purchased everything myself.

I managed to eat my way through everything I had bought from iHerb last month, so I did another order for July. I ended up reordering a number of things that I loved last time, and also added a few new things so my cart that were on my wish list. 

For those who haven't heard of iHerb before, its just an online store that sells things like health foods, supplements, skin care etc... The pricing of bulk foods is better than I've seen locally and even compared to other online stores, which I why I purchase from there. You can check it out here: iHerb

The loot:

I reordered the Cookie Dough Quest Bars as these were great. I'm too scared to try another flavour in case I don't like them as much haha. I also purchased some Chocolate Raspberry Truffle bars by Raw Revolution, and some Chia Squeeze in Blackberry by Mamma Chia to try. I've been looking for some healthy snacks that I can just grab and keep in my bag for when I'm out and about and these looked like pretty good options. This lot will probably last me longer than a month as there is quite a bit!

Another repurchase, I bought two packs of these Granny Smith Apple Chips by Bare Fruits, as P also loved these.

And also two of these Dried Mangoes by Made in Nature. This was one of my favourite things from last month's order.

Again another repurchase. 

Last month I bought the vanilla flavour of this protein powder, and loved it so much I wanted to try another flavour, so I also added the Chocolate Fudge Brownie flavour. There is only 11 serves per pack of this powder, so 2 packs is probably a good amount to last a month for me.

Finally some new purchases this month: honey dijon rice chips, peanut butter filled pretzels, and aged white cheddar half pops (half popped popcorn). All of these look pretty awesome, can't wait to try!

 

And this tea by Yogi tea. I have been on some medication to help with my milk supply, but as a side effect it is wreaking havoc on my stomach resulting in a bit of pain, so thought i'd give this a go.

Like before, once I have tried some of the new things, I will do a review in case you want to know more about anything/what they are like.

Riette

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Homemade Peanut Butter & Bacon Dog Treats

Since becoming a stay at home mum, I have been cooking Jessie's food rather than buying it from the shops. I feel that is it healthier for her, and I'm sure it tastes better to. Of course, sometimes we like to give her treats for being such a good girl. Here's a great recipe that any dog would love.

Recipe adapted from here: http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/10/23/homemade-peanut-butter-dog-treats/

Ingredients:

1 cup (255g) peanut butter (I used crunchy but smooth is also fine)

3/4 cup (180ml) low fat milk

1 large egg

2 cups (244g) wholemeal flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup (30g) oats

2-3 strips bacon, chopped

First preheat the oven to 160C and line two baking trays with greaseproof paper. 

In a large bowl, mix the peanut butter, milk and egg with a whisk until the peanut butter is dissolved. Add the flour and baking powder and mix until a dough is formed. You will need to use your hands to mix the last part of the dough. Turn dough out onto bench and mix in the oats and bacon.

Roll out the dough with a rolling pin, until it is approximately 5mm thick. Either using biscuit cutters, or a knife, cut the preferred shapes (I made bones and hearts) and place spaced out on the lined trays. Roll out the remaining dough and repeat until all dough is used up.

Place the trays in the oven for approximately 16-20 minutes or until golden brown. 

 

Leave too cool before giving to your dog. Store in an air tight container for a week, or freeze.

I think these were pretty successful, but I think Jessie is the best judge. She scoffed them down so I'm sure that a big thumbs up (if dogs had thumbs...).

What treats do your furry friends love?

Riette

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iHerb reviews

Last week I received my first iHerb order which I blogged about here: http://fromheelstobooties.blogspot.com.au/2014/06/iherb-haul.html

I've had a chance to try quite a few of the things already so thought I'd do a review post in case anyone was thinking about trying any of the items. I'll give everything a rating out of 5 as well.

Bare Fruits Dried Granny Smith Apples

Although these had a weird smell when first opening the packet, these tasted great. not too sweet with tangy bite to them and were still crunchy. P liked these as well. The price is a bit steep at $2.92 per packet, so I would only buy them occasionally, but I think I will try making these in the oven as its just dried apple. I'll let you know how it goes when I get around to it...

Rating: 5!

Food Should Taste Good All Natural Jalapeno Tortilla Chips

 These were disappointing. They didn't have much flavour to them and could have done with a bit more salt. The jalapeno flavour did not come through too much either, although after eating a few I could start to feel the heat. I wouldn't repurchase these.

Rating: 1 :(

Made in Nature Dried Pineapple

I quite liked this one,  however it is very sweet so can't eat too much at a time (not necessarily a bad thing). All the pieces were stuck together in the bag which is due to the dried fruit still being quite moist/sticky. I think I have in fact have a slight allergy to pineapple as my hands started to itch when I was eating it, this started happening when I ate pineapple during pregnancy so I may give these a miss next time.

Rating: 3

 

Made in Nature Dried Mangoes

 This was one of my favourite purchases. Dried mango is very expensive to buy here in Perth (the one I like is $99 per kilo) so I seldom buy it, but this is a great alternative at only $5.44 per bag (equivalent to $64 per kilo). Due to the differences in mangoes, some pieces were sweet and some more tangy but I liked that about it. I will definitely repurchase this.

Rating 5!

 

 

ChocoLite French Vanilla Protein Powder

This is again another item which I loved. I had been needing a new protein powder for my smoothies and thought i'd try this one as it was only a small bag. The french vanilla flavour is lovely and tastes just like a good milkshake. I have it in a smoothie with 1 frozen banana, a handful of frozen raspberries and milk blended until smooth. I would like to try the chocolate flavour as well, and maybe the peanut butter flavour. The only downside is the price at $16.60 per bag which only has 11 serves in it. 

Rating: 4 (due to price)

Summersaults Sunflower Seed Snacks

These I didn't particularly like. They had a funny aftertaste that I couldn't pinpoint but it may have been the sunflower seeds, although I've had seeds before with no issues. They were slightly salty as expected which was fine and a good size serving for a snack, however I will not be buying these again.

Rating: 2

 

Woodstock Farms Organic Dark Chocolate Almonds

I forgot to take a picture of these, but these are AMAZING! The dark chocolate was the perfect combination of bitterness and sweetness, and I only needed about 4 at a time to satisfy my chocolate craving. I will be repurchasing these next time for sure.

Rating: 5

Overall I was really pleased with the order and will be repurchasing a number of items in my next order. The things I didn't like was more due to my personal taste rather than the actual items themselves. I've already got my cart full ready to checkout next time, but I'm going to wait until July to place my next order.