Sunday, May 11, 2014

Buns of goodness


I have a fanatical urge to avoid things that become too popular.  This isn't a recent thing, no lately hippy thing.

It's the thing that has seen me never read a Bryce Courtney book.  I never saw Titanic on the big screen. 

I think I might be softening though.  I'm watching Game of Thrones. Previously that would have fallen into the "if I'm not an early adopter I'm not there" category.

And now I've made cinnamon rolls in my thermomix.  In my defence, there's only so much time you can spend on Pinterest without thinking "gee, I wonder what those cinnamon buns are like". 

Have you got any idea how hard it is too choose a recipe when there seems to be a million different cinnamon bun recipes pinned? Given my recent fledging mastery of yeast cookery I went for a yeast version.  I also improvised and used the gewurzhaus Christmas spice instead of just cinnamon.  

The process involved a yeast dough mixed and kneaded in the thermomix.  It then was left to prove for an hour before rolled out and a butter, brown sugar, spice mix spread over it.  Then roll lengthways and slice.  Into a baking tin and left to prove for half an hour (may have had a little nana nap at this stage). Then bake for 15 minutes.  

When they come out of the oven you pour over the icing.  I baulked at going the whole American icing with cream cheese version. Instead it was icing sugar, milk and a little maple syrup.

Were they the perfect Sunday afternoon tea? Yes.  Were they delicious? Yes. Did they make you feel a little bit sugar overdosed and a lot guilty? Definitely.

They sort of reminded me of Gillies scrolls from school lunch orders in the 70's.  I can see they are an easy thing to take to others needing comfort food treats.  

When word came through from my mate in Portland USA to send some over, they look better than the ones there, I was pretty chuffed.  I'd already thought adding some bacon to the mix could have upped the hipster rating.  I think I might play around with them a bit more.

They were fun, they were yum.  But I don't think they are really worthy of so many blogs and pins. 

On food




Back in October 2013, I started to write a few columns for the Bendigo Weekly about the local food scene.

Other than the ability, honed from 20 years of family law affidavit writing, to string a few sentences together I think my qualification for the gig was being a frequent flyer in many local restaurants.

What was going to be a once a month or so thing has morphed into a weekly column about food, focusing on local producers and restaurants.  Even with that, I still have many, many words tumbling around in my head about food, and so this blog.

First though, you may like to recapture some of my Weekly columns:

I kicked off with a general round up of a few things happening locally

http://www.bendigoweekly.com.au/news/local-food-industry-insider


then highlighted the fabulous local business b and b

http://www.bendigoweekly.com.au/news/herb-heroes

from there, it was some hints for Christmas

http://www.bendigoweekly.com.au/news/time-to-grab-a-gift

local food for the summer holidays

http://www.bendigoweekly.com.au/news/travel-tricks

a local twist on Mexican

http://www.bendigoweekly.com.au/news/wahaca-s-magic

http://www.bendigoweekly.com.au/news/back-to-mexico

looking forward to the Bendigo part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival

http://www.bendigoweekly.com.au/news/weekend-wonder

survived the summer heat with local gelato from Favourite Flavours

http://www.bendigoweekly.com.au/news/food-fossckers

summer salads

http://www.bendigoweekly.com.au/news/beat-the-heat

then, rookie mistake, I stupidly shared how good the food was at my local.  Not claiming it is just because of my word, but I now struggle to get a table

http://www.bendigoweekly.com.au/news/at-the-local

tomato time

http://www.bendigoweekly.com.au/news/tomato-time-in-the-kitchen

the wonderful holy goats cheese

http://www.bendigoweekly.com.au/news/cheese-please

then mussels came to the Bendigo Community Farmers Market

http://www.bendigoweekly.com.au/news/mussel-mania

the Mad hatters picnic

http://www.bendigoweekly.com.au/news/mad-hatters-unite

Michel's biscuits

http://www.bendigoweekly.com.au/news/call-me-crackers

Hot Cross Buns deserved 2 columns

http://www.bendigoweekly.com.au/news/fruity-goodness-time

http://www.bendigoweekly.com.au/news/perfect-buns

then it was time for Anzac biscuits

http://www.bendigoweekly.com.au/news/to-dunk-or-not-to-dunk

Followed by using local produce for a weeknight pasta

http://www.bendigoweekly.com.au/news/meal-appeal-pasta

and then this week - Mother's Day

http://www.bendigoweekly.com.au/news/books-for-your-mum