She only really cooks Asam Laksa once a year for my cousins birthday, so when she does I try fit as much of it in as physically possible; I even skipped lunch to make sure I could eat more. The only problem this year was she’d also cooked an awesome dessert, one that she hasn’t cooked in nearly 20 years: Bubur Cha Cha (Funny name, great dish). As soon as I saw all the pretty colours on the kitchen counter I knew we were in for a treat.

Different families have their own version of Bubur cha cha and none is more right than the other. My grandma’s version has sago (the coloured balls), yam, sweet potato and banana all cooked together in a pandan coconut soup. Once the sago is cooked the colours are super bright.

I felt like such a big kid watching my grandma cook it. I was literally jumping up and down singing “Bubur cha cha, bubur cha cha”. Here’s the finish product, served nice and hot. Perfect for winter.

My grandma is so sweet, she only cooked it because I saw it on a menu the other day and got excited. I didn’t ask her to cook it, in fact I didn’t even know she was cooking it till I got there. Just as well a prerequisite for going to my grandma’s house is a big appetite. YUM!

Nothing beats grandma’s cooking.

You should have seen the look on my face when this box arrived today. 24 Christmas cupcakes from My Little Cupcake and only a handful of staff left in the office to finish them. Excellent.

Looks like the over-eating season is here. Time to loosen the belt buckle.

G and I felt like pizza but didn’t actually feel like cooking any of the ingredients, so we put our heads together and came up with the party pizza. What’s with the name?

I’m glad you asked.

Well, you know when you go to a mates place and they put out a plate of nibbles for the party? It’s usually stuff like cabanossi, cheese, sundried stuff and, if your friends are healthy, celery and carrot sticks. Why not make a pizza topped with all that goodness (minus the healthy stuff of course)… Seriously, why not? It was awesome. Okay sure, it probably isn’t the best for my heart (or my ass), but my taste buds sure loved it. Needless to say they were having a party in my mouth (Lame, I know. But it’s my blog so sue me).

Even though I don’t have a sweet tooth, I’m a sucker for gummi bears. Who doesn’t love gummi bears? It takes you back to the days when life was a giant playground and you didn’t have a trouble in the world – except the trouble you’d get into for finishing the entire packet of gummi bears without sharing. Oops.

Also picked up a box of TNT Sour Cola Straps.

The combined weight of the 2 boxes of sugar: 2.5kgs.

Looks like I’ve got a lot of eating to do. If you come over in the next 6-12 months, please feel free to give me a hand and we can sit there buzzing and bouncing with sugar. Good times.

On the menu last night was lemon and rosemary crumbed lamb rack served with roasted tomatoes and chips. I was a bit nervous doing a roast lamb – never tried it before. But it turned out perfectly and we were all very pleased with the result. Mum cracked open a beautiful bottle of Margaret River Shiraz which matched the food perfectly.

There are some weekends, like this weekend, where you feel like googy eggs. It’s so much fun dipping your toast into googy eggs, it’s kind of like chocolate fondue but with eggs and toast. Yum! The frustrating thing is that I can never get it just right. The egg always turns out a bit too raw or too well done with the yoke starting to go solid and hard. I’ve tried to many times and I every time I complain about it to someone I get different advice, “Oh you should boil it on high for 7 minutes”, “Put it in the microwave for 1.5 minutes”, “Pour boiling water and cover it for 10 minutes”. Well I’ve tried it all and it never turns out. The only way I get soft boiled eggs is if I go to my grandma’s place and ask her to cook me a soft boiled egg, which she gets right every time!

Thankfully I found this little beauty – the “Egg-perfect egg timer”. All you do is put it in the water as your boiling your eggs and it will change colour as the eggs cook. I’ve tested it out on all three levels – soft, medium and hard and each time it’s been egg-perfect. I enjoyed a lovely soft boiled egg this morning and a medium egg (pictured above) yesterday.

All I have to do now is find a gadget to help me make poached eggs.

Thankfully I’ve recently discovered the ultimate at home cup of hot chocolate – Lindt Hot Chocolate Flakes. In my books, Lindt are the best chocolate makers and I’ll argue with anyone who would suggest otherwise, unless your Willy Wonka, wouldn’t argue with Willy Wonka or an oompa-loompa.

I was really impressed with the Lindt hot chocolate, and that’s a lot for someone who doesn’t have a sweet tooth, I’d choose a packet of chips over chocolate any day but it’d be a tough choice if it was a cup of Lindt hot chocolate. It’s like drinking a cup full of a Lindt ball liquid centre. I’m drooling just thinking about it.

Part of the appeal is that it’s made of chocolate flakes, not powder. When you open the packet it looks like a hundred crumbled up Flakes. Seriously yum!

I’m a huge sucker for marketing, so all you have to do to make me buy stuff is make it look pretty or give it a cool name, like “The little bottle of water”. It could be the dumbest thing ever, but if it’s got a cool name – I’m sold.

I hope this company makes other flavours of water because I’m not 100% sold on this one. It’s apple, lemon and lime flavoured, but I think it’s a little bit too much on the sour side. It tastes like you’ve just eaten about 10 of those chewable Vitamin C tablets. But hey, it’s a rejuvenation drink and I must give it to them, you do feel more awake after drinking it (from the shock of the sourness).

If you like green apple warheads, you’ll like this.

While strolling down the chocolate aisle in my hungry state I spotted these familiar, but unfamilar bars. NEW Cadbury Bubbly – “chocolate with an aerated mint flavoured (or chocolate) centre”. Hmm… sounds a lot like a good old Aero bar to me. Intrigued as I was, I bought one of each flavour to test out.

I love mint Aero bars so I had pretty high expectations for this, while they looked and felt the same it just didn’t quite cut it for me. The Cadbury chocolate just didn’t blend as well with the mint. So the original mint Aero bar is still a winner.

On the other hand, while I’m not the biggest fan of the Chocolate centred Aero bar, the chocolate Bubbly is really good. It’s like a Dairy Milk chocolate bar, only funner.