Pork and plum steamed dumplings

I am seriously, hopelessly addicted to My Kitchen Rules. I have no idea why, because normally I hate reality TV, but something about this show really speaks to me. Maybe it's because these are amateur cooks like me, maybe it's Manu's accent, I can't be sure.

At any rate it's been inspiring me to try some things I've never tried before. On one episode one couple were making Shu Mai, and the next day while at the gym I saw Kerri-Anne making similar dumpling type things, and I thought I'd give it a go.

I used this recipe from Taste, but replaced the garlic cloves with 2 teaspoons of minced garlic, and 1 teaspoon of minced ginger (because Chinese foods NEEDS ginger). I also folded them into more of a gow gee shape, lik Kerri-Anne had done. And I don't have one of those bamboo steam basket things, so mine got cooked in an electric steamer my mum bought me some months ago. In the electric steamer they took 14 minutes.

OMG - these were fantastic! Some stuck together in the steamer, but I think I crammed too many in there so I'll know for next time. But there will definitely be a next time because I enjoyed them so much. Hubby didn't love the water chest nuts though, he mistook them for uncooked onion. But these were quick, healthy, and surprisingly easy. Not to mention cheap - buying the mince marked down I spent less than $10. So this one is a winner.

Cupcake adventures

I have been a naughty little blogger... last update was in August! Rest assured though I've been cooking up a storm. Among other things I've been building up a repertoire of cakes and cupcakes for my cake venture, and I've sold a couple of cakes to friends! But don't tell the tax office.

These lovely creations were actually all made in January. After the Queensland Floods some of the shopkeepers of Leura decided to hold a cake stall to raise money, and I made this to donate. And photograph.

The animal prints were a design from the Planet Cake Cupcakes book, as were my Comic Book Cliches. The latter were actually an altered version from the book, they started with speech bubbles but i added the comic book twist because I wanted a boy design.

The roses were made in a mould I already had, I was going for a shabby chic vintage cupcake with those. And the two tone buttercream (which was actually the easiest of the designs) was a technique I'd been wanting to try out for a while.

Overall I must say very pleased, though my piping clearly needs work. Those letters in the speech bubbles are really wonky! I just hope they raised some money for my Queensland bretheren.