chef shogo

guest blogger: dr shogo

Look at Shogo's new toy!

Shogo has recently been totally enamoured by a new Le Cruset silicone baking tray. It is totally dishwasher, freezer and oven-proof, totally easy to fold up, and - most important - because it's silicone and floppy, the cooked cakes etc. can be simply pushed out!

So, on a nice Sunday afternoon, Shogo has ignored the piling amount of work on his desk and spent the time baking banana muffins (our Stephanie Alexander's recipe). See results, as well as the silicone baking tray (the orange thingo).

next G

Today, Joanna & Javy are flying in for a 1-week visit . . . am very excited. However, their flight has been delayed for 3 hours, so after a massive clean-up, I'm currently killing time for a few hours before I meet them at the airport.

. . .

A few weeks ago, Malc received an invitation from Telstra for a customer dinner at the Hilton. We were both surprised, it was quite strange for us to receive an invitation when we only have our home phone & broadband with them, ie., we're not really one of the 'big' customers. But hey, a dinner invitation at the Hilton does not come that often.

It was an interesting affair, Telstra was introducing its new technology, the 'next G wireless broadband network,' if what Sol Trujillo said was true, the speed at which information can be transferred is truly amazing (bordering on scary). The 'speakers' for the dinner were really interesting, too (see program). Hearing the speaches, the impression I got was these highly successful people work insane hours, it made me tired just listening to what they have been doing in the last week!

On to the food. The menu was well thought of, not really overpowing the guests with rich, intricate food. The entree of potato rosti with scallop was heaven sent because dinner started a bit late. Then came the first lot of speeches, before the main course of beef tenderloin. Malc & I were quite impressed how the kitchen staff kept the steak perfectly medium-rare given the number of people they have to serve.

Then a panel discussion-type presentation with the guest speakers, which was interesting, although a bit too long that some of the guests did not stay for dessert. BIG MISTAKE. Dessert was the highlight of the meal, the pannacotta was so light and flavourful, and the rhubarb perfectly stewed.

We'd like to thank Telstra for the wonderful dinner. It also helped that we were seated with some really funny people, some of whom had really interesting 'inside-stories' on Telstra.

Ramas

In Canberra, only one restaurant deserves our utmost adulation, Ramas Fijian Indian Restaurant (Shop 6 Pearce Shopping Centre, Hodgsons Crescent, Pearce ph 02 6286 1964).

The first time Malc & I discovered this restaurant about 5 years ago, we liked it so much we went back the next day. We even seriously contemplated in moving to Pearce to be near it. Ramas is the venue of many celebrations. . . graduation, thesis submission, new job, welcome back and farewell dinners.

Last weekend, Malc & I, together with the now 100% healthy Khariss were back in Canberra for Floriade. And while the flowers were absolutely gorgeous (well, Malc did not get to see the flowers, he was locked up in the hotel watching the nail biting AFL finals), it was the promise of a pleasant dinner at Ramas that was in our minds.



And so, without further ado, here is our Ramas experience.

Malc ordered his favourite, egg and potato curry. This sounds like an odd combination, but the super soft potato with boiled eggs in a creamy tomato-based curry is just plain heaven.



I ordered one of my staples, palak paneer. Cheese in spinach curry sauce. The cheese has the consistency of firm tofu and is mild in flavour. The spinach curry sauce is also creamy and the finely chopped spinach did not have any of the 'bitter' vegetable flavour.

Malc & I had already made up our minds on what to order before coming to the restaurant, but this was Khariss' first visit, so she was left with the hard decision of what to order from the menu . . . and she chose prawn masala. This dish turned out to be a big surprise, the sauce was not as creamy as the first two, but the flavour was amazing, the taste of the prawns was infused throughout the entire dish. When we've finished the prawns, we could still taste the seafood when we dipped our roti in the sauce.

We were the picture of contentment after the meal, and as usual, the gracious maitre d' and co-owner Mimi made our dinner all the more personal.