Chewy Anzac Biscuits

It was one afternoon when one of my girls handed me a piece of paper with Anzac biscuits recipe printed on it. She said, "Here is the recipe of the ANZAC bikkies, mom. I made one at school, do you know that this bikkies brought to war by the ANZAC hero ?". "Oh... it's good to hear it from you", I smiled. Well, she said she wanted to make one more batch at home.

It was really nice coincidence as I read before from the news paper what's top search on taste.com.au. It's this Anzac biscuits recipe. Even though Anzac day's behind us,bake our own still call as fun. The recipes were not really different, the taste.com.au use brown sugar while the school one use white, we used both of the recipes. To my taste, brown sugar is much better beside... it's chewy.

Just FYI, ANZAC Day (25th April) is a nationwide day of commemoration for Australians and New Zealander's of the lives lost at war, especially the ANZAC’s (Australian and New Zealand Army Corp) of World War I.

This celebratory biscuits carefully use selected ingredients. The exclusion of eggs mean to have a long shelf-life. It's usually hard tack biscuit, but this recipe wouldn't crack your tooth, trust me..
*super wink..*

The biscuits went to our tummies while the picture goes to Click event.



Chewy Anzac biscuits
* 1 cup (150g) plain flour
* 1 cup (90g) rolled oats
* 1 cup (85g) desiccated coconut
* 3/4 cup (155g) brown sugar
* 125g butter
* 2 tbs golden syrup
* 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
* 2 tbs of water

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C. Line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Sift the flour into a large bowl. Stir in the oats, coconut and brown sugar.
2. Put the butter, golden syrup and 2 tbs water in a small saucepan. Stir over a medium heat until melted. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda.
3. Pour the butter mixture into the flour mixture and stir until combined.
4. Roll level tablespoons of mixture into balls. Place on the trays, about 5cm apart.
5. Press with a fork to flatten slightly. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
6. Set aside on the trays for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack so it cools completely.

Source: Fresh Living - April 2004

Berry Trifle And Indonesia Merdeka

I've taken some photos for this "Red and White Photography Event" more than a month before, too bad I didn't get the chance to post. But then I got other thought, I'll bring "something" from the Indonesian consulate-office where we're having annual celebration of Independence-day, to complete this entry. There was ceremony with trained flag raiser or known as "Paskibraka"; a gamelan -an Indonesian traditional music- played by Australian and not to forget food.. food...food... sate padang, empek-empek (fish cake), siomay and Indonesian sweets including the making of "cara bikang".

Cara bikang

Sentiling, klepon, lumpur, wingko

Indonesian have huge kinds of food, not only nasi campur, nasi goreng, gado-gado, satay but also huge varieties of Indonesian sweets or jajanan pasar, sweets that we can get easily in Indonesia traditional market. I'm so proud that today Indonesian language and culture also taught in Australian School. Not just that... they also learn about Indonesian food.

Ongol-ongol, lumpur kentang, getuk lindri, onde-onde, limus (lemet)

Lapis, wingko, lumpur, klepon, sentiling

Well this is quite contrary, for this event I didn't pick Indonesian food, I found this classic twist is RED and WHITE NATURALLY. I love taking the shots of 'em as well as Indonesian sweets. It has an"awe" factor and considerable less effort in the preparing.

This picture goes to "Red and White Photography Contest" hosted by Dwiana, Fitri and Dhi to celebrate Indonesian Independence-day. Merdekaaaaaa!!!

Berry Trifle
250 gr packet sponge fingers (savoiardi)
1/2 cup apple juice ( I use homemade one, as it taste natural sweet than store bought)
2 packet raspberry jelly or use your choice red agar-agar or nutrijelly
250 gr punnet strawberry
1/4 cup chopped pistachio

Methods:
Prepare jelly according to packet instructions. Chill untill set.

Break half the sponge fingers, and arrange in individual glass cups or dishes, drizzle with half apple juice.

Spoon over the jelly and custard, top with strawberries and pistachio to serve.

Top Ten Picked

Sometimes ago (or long-long ago to be exact), I've been tagged by Arfi about my ten best photographs.
I must say, It's not me to judge whether they are good shots or not. So I picked the top 5 favorited pictures by Flickr'ites and another 5 picked by me, to be fair I don't include bento pictures, as sometime they don't save them as favorite because of the picture itself, but they tend to keep them for bento's design or menu. So... here we go...

To keep this tag going, I tag some of you too...
come on gals... show me yours ^___^:........
Sheilla
Yuli
Dwiana
Lia Christie

Behind the Scene, Treasures For Pleasure...

To have food photographed, sometimes I need other preparation work to be done, prepare the background, hoping the sun shining during a photo session; is this some kind of preparation ? Well this is the fact of such amateur food photographer with low budget like me, or sometimes I eventually prepared a table light with scrunched foil for reflector. Other preparation is to have props ready. This post is about props for my food photography, check my story...


Apart being foodtographiaholic, I like to entertain my friends, I think that where this hobby started, to get the good coordinate of one kind of dinnerware, kinda exciting stuff to do until you just realize deep down in your cabinet, there is new homeware store open in your hidden kitchen.

My biggest collections so far is brand came from corelle, with the kids around, this brand really heavy duty. Called me mad, yes ! There are lot more from this brand, but they already sit nicely in my home country. The one on the picture are style that available here in my kitchen. They've taken for food photography, as they went straight to dinning table after photo session.

Okay...this post also about the un-coordinate one, the one not coming in a set like 4 or 6, the one which doesn't even have a pair, un-matching pattern. Yes I do keep them, for food photography purpose... hell no... I keep them for display too ^_^

They are really nice to have, feast the eyes and pleasure for food photography. They are just 1 or 2 pieces . But handy enough to make a good setup for food photography.

I don't fancy with one color, as long as I like it go ahead.

Some of them are gift from friends.

The one from flea market, straight to my treasure box.

These set above was not coming from expensive store, but they give huge impression on the picture, with their natural colors.

The background are coming from my craft room, scrapbook papers, the one on the middle is another treasure from Mochachocolata Rita, from the event of Chinese Take Out Party. Thanks Rit !

Finally, this post is my submission for Home Food Photography Event, Property, hosted by Dita over Yummy.

Black Beans, Loaded with Antioxidants

Research published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry indicates that black beans are as rich in antioxidant compounds called anthocyanins as grapes and cranberries, fruits long considered antioxidant superstars.

When researchers analyzed different types of beans, they found that, the darker the bean's seed coat, the higher its level of antioxidant activity. Gram for gram, black beans were found to have the most antioxidant activity, followed in descending order by red, brown, yellow, and white beans.

Overall, the level of antioxidants found in black beans in this study is approximately 10 times that found in an equivalent amount of oranges, and comparable to that found in an equivalent amount of grapes or cranberries.

Taken from http://www.whfoods.com/

This picture below is my entry to Click Event: Beans and Lentils hosted by Bee and Jai.

Click ....!!!!