Wild Pear Cafe, Dural

What nicer way to spend a Sunday afternoon than enjoying a dainty high tea in a beautiful garden setting? This was how I celebrated Mother's day last Sunday with all the ladies in my family!

For the past two Mother's Days, I have taken the mums out to cafes set in nurseries - all the mums love looking at plants and planning their gardens, and the cafes in these nurseries offer delicious fresh food. The cafe we (my mum, mother-in-law, grandmother-in-law, and sister-in-law) went to this year was Wild Pear Cafe in Dural. The cafe is set in a cosy cottage with a balcony that overlooks the nursery, perfect for a post-meal stroll. Inside the cafe itself was very busy - in fact it had been all booked out for Mother's Day! I was quite surprised given that it's in a quite out of the way part of Sydney, but at least it was a good sign that it would be a good cafe!

Our high tea started off with a colourful carafe of water flavoured with mint leaves, strawberries, lemon slices, and pomegranate seeds. I was really impressed with how I could taste all the different ingredients in the water, and it made for a naturally sweet and refreshing drink.

Shortly afterwards came the actual high tea, with loads of goodies beautifully presented on a three tier stand!

The bottom layer was filled to the edges with a delicious selection of sandwiches, including curried egg and cucumber; avocado, chicken, bacon and spinach; smoked salmon and cream cheese, avocado, ham, brie and lettuce, and falafel and salad. The sandwiches were very generously filled and heartier than the usual dainty finger sandwiches! I was also very intrigued and impressed by the interesting flavour combinations. The sandwiches stacked together looked so pretty and colourful, like a sandwich garden!

The second tier held the lovely sweets! The mini lemon meringue tarts were definitely the highlight for me - the tangy lemon filling merged seamlessly with the sweet, soft meringue so that it was one big creamy mouthful! There was also slices of carrot cake topped with a caramel pecan, squares of bread and butter pudding, and mini pavlovas topped with pomegranate, pashmak and pistachios. I loved the vibrant contrast of pink and green of the meringues and the moist, dense texture and spices in the carrot cake and bread and butter pudding.

The top layer held the scones - two plain and two fruit. As usual we were already too full by the time we got to the final plate! I managed to share one with my mum - the scones were served with deliciously thick clotted cream and strawberry jam, both of which I slathered on thickly onto my scone half!

The staff were able to accommodate Anita's nut allergy by providing her with a separately made up plate of sweets. However there was so much she wasn't able to finish it all! So I was able to save a lemon tart to take home to Mr Duckie, which he very much appreciated! I also saved a scone to take home for him, as I felt sad that he was missing out on the fun (this was a ladies only occasion!).

Finally, as usual with family gatherings, I have a funny story to share. We each received a glass of pink sparkling wine complimentary with our high tea. Our waitress mistakenly left the rest of the bottle on our table. Meanwhile, in the five or ten minute gap before the waitress came back, Grandma had already downed her first glass of champagne and asked for a second one to be poured for her! According to her, the alcohol "helps the food go down" and she claimed that it did not affect her, claiming that  "It's just like Coke!" It was quite a hilarious moment, and in any case dear old Grandma certainly got her money's worth on wine!

Helps the food go down!

Overall it was a lovely day out with good food in a peaceful location. Wild Pear is a very family friendly cafe, and it was nice to treat all the mum's out to a special afternoon. Make sure you book ahead though, especially on the weekend, as it certainly gets busy fast! I would definitely recommend a visit especially if you are in the area - I know I am looking forward to trying some of their lunches and other desserts! Hope you all had a happy Mother's Day too!

One final quick picture - our light Mother's Day brunch before high tea. I made sure it was nice and light so I had plenty of stomach space left for high tea!

Wild Pear Cafe

658 Old Northern Road, Dural, 2158

(02) 9651 6600

High tea at The Hydro Majestic - the Blue Mountains Life

Looking out into the Megalong Valley

Hello everyone! Sorry for the long absence. I am finally back home, having finished my first placement in the Blue Mountains! I have to say that I was somewhat apprehensive at first at having to move to a regional area, but in fact I really enjoyed living in the Mountains.  Everyone was very friendly, the lifestyle was relaxed, and of course there was always a stunningly picturesque view right around the corner. The Blue Mountains Hospital itself is a lovely hospital, and even though it was a quieter than one of the bigger hospitals, I was glad to have had the time to develop my basic nutrition assessment and education skills.

Watching the sunrise from our balcony in Leura

As usual though, Mr Duckie and I had an emergency drama to deal with which certainly kept life more than interesting! The first week back Mr Duckie and I drove back to Sydney for a wedding. Mr Duckie was best man so he went to the groom's house the night before to help with some last minute preparations. Our beloved car, Jeeves, who was Mr Duckie's first car, and who we have had for over eight years, had given us some trouble over the past year but he had managed the drive up and down to the Mountains without any trouble (about a 90km drive each way!). However, that night things took a very scary turn for the worse. On his way home, the front right wheel of Jeeves fell off! Luckily Mr Duckie was on a straight stretch and the road was very quiet. We were lucky that no one was hurt. Sadly though, I think it is now time to let go of Jeeves. He's been fixed and is sitting in the driveway of my parents-in-law's house, but I'm not sure if he will go again. We managed to quickly buy a new car that is basically a newer version of Jeeves, but we still miss him very much.

Here's a picture of our beloved Jeeves. As you can see, he's been through rather a lot in the past 8 years. He somehow lost his hubcaps (unfortunately they got stolen whilst we were out one night), he's had a few dings, and in the end the side mirror and boot door were no longer working. You can also see the front of the new car just behind him - in fact, he is a newer version of Jeeves! Once Mr Duckie finds what he likes, he sticks with it ;)

So you would think that I've gotten all the drama out of the way for a while! Not so - funnily enough, right at the start of my second placement we had another emergency! But that may be a story for another post ;)

During my stay in the Mountains, I managed to check out the local food scene (as every good dietitian does!). The one place that I really wanted to visit was the iconic and legendary Hydro Majestic Hotel, which is very famously perched on the edge of the cliff face overlooking the Megalong Valley. Much to his credit, Mr Duckie had secretly booked us in for a high tea on Valentines Day!

The view from The Wintergarden

The Hydro Majestic Afternoon High Tea is served in The Wintergarden. The hotel recently underwent a multi-million dollar renovation and re-opened last year. It has a very glamorous Art Deco inspired atmosphere. And the view truly lived up to its reputation - it was the unique point making all the difference to the afternoon tea experience! Combined with the relaxing songs being played on the grand piano, and the slightly grey and cloudy sky, I felt like I could have been in the English countryside!

I again had my breath taken away when the high tea came out. The food was served in a traditional three-tiered stand and was very generous in its proportions. I imagined that it was like the three meals of the day in one!

We started off with the sandwiches and savouries (middle tier). There were chicken and walnut sandwiches, cucumber and herb butter sandwiches, and roast beef and tomato chutney sandwiches. The other savouries were a blini with smoked salmon, and a tart filled with goats cheese, olive, and cherry tomato.

Next we went onto scones. These came out very warm and soft! And in a very generous touch we got two scones each - one plain and one fruit. They were served with thick clotted cream and a nice, runny strawberry jam. My recommendation though, as tasty as the scones are, is to only have a maximum of one scone each as they are so filling!

Last of all was the sweets layer. Unfortunately by this time we were so full we couldn't make much headway into the sweets! This layer contained honey and mango pannacottas, strawberry macarons, mini almond friands, and passionfruit and raspberry tarts (my favourite!). We tried our best to eat them but eventually we ended up taking the rest home in a takeaway box.

Afterwards we decided we should try to walk off some of our fullness and we enjoyed the  beautiful views out into the Megalong Valley. Ultimately though what we needed was a good old fashioned afternoon nap!

Next time you are looking to relax and get away from the hustle and bustle of city life, I definitely recommend a visit to the Blue Mountains and to indulge yourself at The Hydro Majestic!

Hydro Majestic Afternoon High Tea
Wintergarden Restaurant
The Hydro Majestic Hotel
Great Western Highway, Medlow Bath
NSW 2780
http://www.hydromajestic.com.au/

Earl Grey Tea Loaf

As you can probably tell, I love tea! I believe that tea is a suitable drink at any time of day and has the ability to help out in any mood or situation, whether it be as a morning wake-up, as a way to unwind at the end of the day, as a soothing balm when sick, or as a reviving drink to perk up our spirits when everything is getting a bit out of hand. And with such a wide range of flavours and varieties available, a perfect match can always be found!

Mr Duckie is, of course, even more of a tea fiend than I am. One of our favourite teas is Earl Grey, a very elegant and distinctive black tea. I love the delicate citrus flavour and floral aroma that comes from the bergamot oil flavouring. Traditionally it is served with a slice of lemon, making it a very light and refreshing alternative to regular black tea, although I must admit that I like it with milk as well!

Earl Grey tea lends itself very well to all sorts of baking - in fact one of the flavours in our wedding cake (made by the very talented Sharon Wee) was a chocolate cake with Earl Grey tea and cookies ganache! 

A slice of our very yummy wedding cake, filled with Earl Grey flavoured ganache

So, I was curious as to how Earl Grey tea would taste inside a cake itself. My aim was to make a light and fluffy loaf cake, studded with sultanas in the style of an old-fashioned fruit loaf, the kind that is the perfect accompaniment to a cup of afternoon tea. The recipe I first used was based on a Yorkshire Gold tea loaf recipe that I picked up from the supermarket Waitrose when I was living in London.

I used an Earl Grey tea containing lemon and orange peel, as well as blue cornflower petals, and which looked very pretty indeed!

I had high hopes for my first attempt. The preparation process itself was a lot of fun, with wafts of tea floating around as I mixed the ingredients together. Unfortunately, the cake did not turn out as well as I had hoped - mostly due to my not following the recipe and making my own adjustments. First, I had used a loaf tin that was too big, so my cake was rather flat and looked more like a slice...

So flat :(

When I cut it open, rather than a soft fluffy cake, I had a very dense cake - most likely I had added too many wet ingredients to dry ingredients. I could hardly even see the sultanas, as they appeared to merge with the cake itself...

Most disappointing of all, the Earl Grey flavour was also hard to detect. I had added an orange icing, thinking that the orange would match the citrus citrus notes in the tea, but unfortunately the flavour was too overpowering! Mr Duckie, ever supportive, insisted that it was still a nice cake, but I wasn't convinced. Overall, it was a pleasant tasting cake, but the tea flavour just did not shine through strong enough, and I didn't have the soft, fluffy cake that I was aiming for.

But I wasn't about to give up on my tea flavoured cake quest!

For my second attempt, I added more flour, and some extra raising agents for extra lift, and I reduced the wet ingredients to prevent the cake from being too dense. I also used a lemon syrup instead of an orange

icing. Finally, I added a tablespoon full of vinegar - this sounds strange but I have used it in another trustworthy eggless cake recipe in the past, and I found that it helps to keep the cake light when you aren't using any eggs. 

I eagerly awaited the outcome of this second cake. And, much to my excitement, I had a proper fluffy loaf cake!

The cake looked so pretty with the tiny brown flecks of tea leaves throughout it. It had a nice soft, crumbly texture, with sweetness from the juicy sultanas studded throughout the cake.

And most importantly, it tasted like Earl Grey tea! Best of all, as the sultanas had been soaked in the tea, they tasted like tiny bursts of tea in each bite!

So, what is your favourite hot drink? And of course, do feel free to experiment with your own favourite tea to make your own very special tea cake!

Earl Grey Tea Loaf

Adapted from recipes here and here

Loaf
3 Earl Grey tea bags

1 cup boiling water

150 g sultanas

300 g self-raising flour

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

Pinch of salt

1 tsp mixed spice

100g raw sugar

½ cup rice-bran oil

¼ cup soy milk

1 tbsp vinegar

Lemon glaze

50 g caster sugar

100ml water

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp finely grated lemon zest

1. Cut open the teabags and empty leaves into a bowl. Add the boiling water and brew for 5 minutes. Add the sultanas and soak for at least 1 hour.

2. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line and grease a loaf tin (my dimensions were approx. 21 cm x 10.5 cm x 7 cm) .

3. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and mixed spice into a large bowl. Add the sugar and stir to combine. Make a well in the middle. Add the fruit and tea mixture (including all the tea leaves and the soaking liquid), oil and soy milk and stir gently to combine. Then add the vinegar and stir to combine.

4. Spoon batter into loaf tin. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

5. To make glaze, put the water, juice and zest into a small pan and gently bring to the boil. Add the caster sugar, give a quick stir, and bring back to the boil. Boil on a medium heat for about 5-10 minutes until thickened slightly and syrup is a golden colour.

6. Once cake is out of the oven, prick the cake all over with a skewer then brush syrup all over the top of the cake. How much syrup you use is up to you and how sweet you like your cake – I only used about half the syrup and I kept the rest to serve on the side (or as for Mr Duckie, with some vanilla ice-cream as a makeshift lemon sundae!). Leave to cool in the tin.

7. Once cool, slice and serve with any left over syrup, and of course, a cup of your favourite tea!