Afternoon tea & canapés

So what has everyone been up to these past couple of weekends? Whilst the weather may not have been that great, please spare a thought to our neighbours up in Queensland who have sadly once again faced with torrential rains and flooding. The overcast and generally miserable Sydney weather does make for ideal conditions for staying indoors and general lazing about however. And, after 3 weeks of both the husband and I being sick with a cold/throat infection/allergies, we are now finally well enough to engage in some social activities. Any longer without social contact and we would’ve started our transformation into hermits!

Cooking is always a labour of love and I do put more effort into cooking for those whom are nearest and dearest. (On the contrary, when I don’t care as much is when I do stupid things like leaving out key ingredients – stodgy, eggs-forgotten choc mudcake, anyone?) Wifey and Mistress are two of the most supportive and important women in my life, and I may just have gone a little overboard when planning our late lunch/afternoon tea menu.

Mini cheeseburgers were made with what look like brioche buns, but are sneakily Asian bakery sweet bread rolls (Breadtop, in this case), while mini bruschetta was made from par-baked and seasoned bread slices. Baked wonton cups were filled with avocado cream and topped with rosettes of smoked salmon. Mini quiches and mini sausage rolls were made with the help of ready-rolled pastry. A multitude of miniature items which sounds like a lot of  fiddliness but actually quite easy with shortcut ingredients.

Mini matcha friands were part of the requisite need for sweets; chewy and ever so slightly bitter with the flavour of green tea. Mini ice-cream sandwiches were made with cut out rounds of Carême dark chocolate shortcrust (I am so in love with this pastry right now!) and store-bought vanilla ice-cream. And for a slightly lighter option were strawberry and kiwi fruit cups layered with cream and finished with Carême chocolate pastry fingers.

There won’t be any time for friends next weekend as it will be Chinese New Year, which means family, family, family! Looking forward to all the feasting and customs – haircut, new clothes, cleaning the home, etc – which come with it because it’ll be like Christmas all over again.

happy cooking!