Pancake Bananas

In days gone by, I would enjoy pancakes just once a year on Shrove Tuesday. I know, it's madness and I can't understand why because pancakes are easy to make and, as far as I'm concerned, are perfect at any time of the day. These days I have come to my senses and often make pancakes for Saturday breakfast when I fancy a change from eggs. 

This week I made cinnamon pancakes for brekkie and had some mix left over. We also had a fridge full of bananas so I had a bit of a lightbulb moment inspired by this pin I remembered seeing a while ago. Instead of making regular banana pancakes, I dipped the bananas in the pancake batter and fried them in butter. 

Lab Made ice cream

I’m pretty sure this is about as edgy as ice cream gets!

Made to order in what look like KitchenAids there seems to be some kind of witchcraft involved. The steam of the liquid nitrogen seeps out of the shop, shrouding the whole place in mystery.

*photos taken from Lab Made's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LabMadeHK

Matt’s sister introduced us to this great little spot in Hong Kong when we visited her in April. Six months later we ended up back here on 30th October so naturally there was a Halloween twist. 

Penang: it's all about the roti!

I want to stay in Penang and eat Indian curry with my hands forever. Scrap that, I'm moving to India!

After a morning of walking around Georgetown, we were hungry and in need of a good lunch. Pausing outside an Indian cafe, we were beckoned in and ordered the vegetarian banana leaf set (it seemed to be necessary to order before we could sit down).

A large banana leaf was placed in front of each of us and then curries, rice and pappadams were heaped onto the leaf. The waiters felt sorry for us and gave us cutlery but there was no way we were missing out on the fun, so we got stuck in with our hands! It was delicious, we were stuffed and it cost us 10 Malaysian Ringit (about £2).

I scream, you scream ...

When you've spent the morning walking round The Grand Palace, the sun searing through your factor 50 to create some impressive tan lines, you need an ice cream. In Thailand it seems that you never far from someone selling coconut ice cream, whether it be in a cup, cone, shell or bread roll (yeah, I don't get it either) but in Bangkok there are more and more artisan ice cream shops and stalls popping up.

Most offer the classic scoops in a variety of delicious flavours. But this little stall on Khao San road sold what I would describe as 'Magnum-style' ice creams only far superior. Each flavour has a different design made from chocolate and icing which when bitten, gives way to ice cream heaven. The effect was wonderful and I've never seen anything like this before.

Fudge

About a month ago I went to a baking seminar with a friend and was given 11 tins of evaporated milk by the sponsor. To my knowledge I have never drunk or eaten evaporated milk and I've certainly never used it myself. I got it in my head that I could probably make fudge with it and, although it turns out evaporated milk is not generally used in fudge, I went ahead with a bit of experimental candy making nonetheless.

Nutty French Soldiers

Or something like that…..!

French toast (or eggy bread) is up there with my favorite breakfasts (and I'm a girl who loves her breakfasts). I'm always amazed by the magic eggs and a splash of milk can do to a humble slice of bread.

Frankly crispy bacon and maple syrup is the ultimate accompaniment to a stack of french toast or pancakes but as I'm currently meat free (and at any rate bacon is hard to come by here in Thailand) I had to come up with an alternative.

Frozen yoghurt cubes

This was a bit of a 'what can I freeze in my ice cube tray' experiment and basically involved me mashing up bananas and yoghurt. About as simple as you get but with a pretty tasty result.

I used four mini bananas (I reckon two regular bananas) and 600ml of coconut yoghurt to fill one ice cube tray. I used my hands to mash the bananas until they were liquid and then whisked in the yoghurt. Spoon into the ice cube tray and put in the freezer.

I thought that these cold treats could do with a bit of a crunch so I fried up some oats and sugar until golden brown. When the cubes are almost frozen but still slightly soft I sprinkled the oats over half of the cubes.