FoodieChat

OK, oracles, place your predictions here for your guess of who’ll make it top 2! And second question – who you WANT to win it!   Here’s mine:  I’m gonna say Billy Law for sure in the top 2 – what final would be complete without a foodie Asian?  Go Poh and Adam!    I’m gonna say Adam Bowen too, and Hayden as contenders.  Go on, what’s your guess?

The day after the Masterchef contestants presented burnt and raw cakes, runny jam and rock hard scones, many were discussing – what went wrong?  Many attributed it to the outdoor setting and the unfamiliar oven.  So I set about trying to prove that in normal circumstances, the challenge can be done!  I wanted to try the marble cake as I hadn’t seen one before that had only two colours (pink and white) and had jam in the middle.   Oh noooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!  It burnt!!!  As you can see, i had to shave the sides down!!!  Not even the pretty pink icing could hide my shame (especially since the judge said that no icing can run down the side!).   

THe cut through the middle test:  Fair distribution of colour, but still a bit too much pink.  Not burnt on the inside.

Crumb was okay and the icing was fairly even (on this slice at least hahaha), but still dry for my liking   Big fail!   I concluded:  It’s not me, it’s not the contestants, it’s the word “moderate” to describe the oven temperature.  Everyone’s oven is different. Whilst moderate generally means 180 degrees, my oven is fan forced so I should have turned it down 10 degrees.  Who knows what the CWA oven is like?  So “moderate’ could have meant a bit range of potential fails    Oh well… better luck next time.

Link to the recipes:

http://www.cwaofnsw.org.au/newsEvents/generalNews.do?newsId=3368

Coming up soon:

1. The Taste of Sydney festival is on this week at Centennial Park from Thursday 12th march to Sunday 15th.  There are a few tickets on special around the place, otherwise it’s $15 for entry, then $8 – 15 for each plate.  Restaurants exhibiting include Becasse, Assiette, Jonah’s, Balzac, Sailor’s Thai. 

http://79.170.40.165/tastefestivals.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=65&Itemid=83

2. The Noosa Food and Wine festival – loads of cooking classes with your favourite chefs, degustation dinners and lunches. 1 – 3 May.

 http://www.celebrationofaustralianfoodandwine.com.au/

3. The Food of Orange Week – 17 – 26 April. I might try and get to this one this year as I have heard so much about it.  Wine tastings, markets, cooking classes, fresh produce and other events.

 http://www.orangefoodweek.com.au/