Category Archives: 30by30

Blueberry cinnamon Rolls

As part of my 30 by 30, I am meant to be making bread at least once a month. So for the most recent one, I decided to make blueberry cinnamon rolls. Because that is totally a bread.

You may notice something odd with these… I forgot the glaze. Well, I didn’t forget, I just didn’t have any icing sugar and I couldn’t be bothered going to get any! But that’s Ok – without the glaze it felt justifiable to me to eat these for breakfast.

Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls
Adapted from Annie’s Eats

Ingredients:
For the cinnamon rolls:
6½ tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
5½ tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1 tsp. lemon zest
3½ cups bread flour
2 tsp. instant (rapid rise) yeast
1 cup plus 2-4 tbsp. whole milk or buttermilk, at room temperature

For the filling:
3 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. sugar
¾ tsp. ground cinnamon
1½ cups fresh blueberries

For the glaze:
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
6-7 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. lemon zest

Directions:
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the sugar, salt and butter on medium-high speed until smooth.  Mix in the egg and lemon zest until incorporated.  Mix in the flour, yeast and milk until a dough forms.  Switch to the dough hook and knead on low speed, about 8 minutes until the dough is silky and supple, tacky but not sticky.  (You may need to add a little extra flour or liquid to achieve this texture.)  Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, turning once to coat.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for about 2 hours, or until doubled in size.

Mist a work surface with spray oil.  Roll it out into a rectangle with a rolling pin, lightly dusting the dough with flour if needed to keep it from sticking (about 12 x 14 inches for larger rolls or 9 x 18 inches for smaller rolls).  Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and mix to blend.  Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture over the surface of the dough.  Sprinkle the berries over the top evenly of the dough.  Starting with the wide edge, roll up the dough into a cigar-shaped log, creating a cinnamon sugar spiral as you roll.  Pinch the seam shut, and with the seam side down, slice the log into your desired number of rolls.  Transfer them to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, placing the rolls about ½-1 inch apart.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature 75-90 minutes, until the rolls have grown into each other and have nearly doubled in size.  At this point, the rolls can also be covered and retarded in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.  Pull the pan out of the refrigerator 3-4 hours before baking to let the dough proof.

Preheat the oven to 175˚ C.  Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown.  Let cool in the baking about 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.  Whisk together the glaze ingredients in a medium bowl until smooth and then swirl over the top of the cinnamon rolls.  Let cool at least 15-20 minutes before serving.

Old Kingdom – AKA Duck Fest 2011

One of the items on my 30 by 30 list was to go for a duck feast with friends. For 5 years we have been talking about it and not getting around to doing it. Enough was enough. We wanted duck, and we were going to eat duck.

So on a cold Friday night we headed off for a belated birthday celebration to eat as much duck as we could handle. As we sat at the table we debated whether or not we had over ordered with 3 ducks between 6 people, but we shrugged it off and laughed in the face of any potential duck-induced coma. In fact, we were so arrogant we ordered some fried wontons and rice and greens for the table.

What amateurs! Wholly unneccesary.

It started off wonderfully with the peking duck. Crispy skinned, juicy, albeit a little oily.

Just as we were running out of duck and pancakes, a whole new duck appeared! Then another… In fact, we had so much duck that we needed more pancakes and even more sauce!

In fact, this was probably the only frustrating part of the night. We couldn’t get anyone’s attention to order more sauce and pancakes. Meanwhile we had lovely duck just sitting there going cold!

After the peking duck comes the duck stir fry with bean shoots. This is nice enough and the bean shoots are refreshing. But nothing to rave about.

Next came the soup. Oh the soup. We were all so full  by the time it appeared that half of us couldn’t even contemplate it. I personally did not like the soup as I found it really peppery and it had an odd taste. Ours was mostly left untouched.

We were all so full by the end of the evening and we felt like we wanted a shower from all the duck grease going on. But it was satisfying. Would I go back? Yes, but probably not for some time given that I still feel very full of duck!

It was actually a really well priced night, with the bill coming to just over $200 for all six of us. I recommend you go, but just for the peking duck!

Old Kingdom
197 Smith St
Fitzroy, 3065
Tel: 9417 2438

My 30 before 30 list

I’m not gonna lie people. Turning 30 scares me. THANKFULLY I have a full year to deal with this impending doom as I am only about to turn 29.

I’m not sure why 30 scares me. I think I had ideas that my life would be ‘sorted’ by then. That I would be a grown up, have my crap together and life would be good. But I think we all know life doesn’t work like that.

Life for me is good. I have a lovely partner, we own a house together, I am at the top of my career and there is travel in the future. So I have decided to celebrate my last year in my 20s by doing a 30 before 30 challenge. 30 things that I want to do before the big day, focussed on fun, wellbeing and experiences.

My 30 before 30 list

  1. Take a dancing class
  2. Run a 5k or walk a 10k
  3. Visit a city I have never been to before
  4. Learn to cook fresh pasta
  5. Read 15 new books
  6. Go vegetarian for a week (sorry Ben!)
  7. Plan a girls weekend
  8. Go rock climbing – and go right to the top
  9. Take a curling lesson
  10. Go to a museum
  11. Volunteer some time with a charity
  12. Eat at a fancy restaurant
  13. Start a veggie garden
  14. Bake ‘just because’ treats for work at least twice
  15. Organise the junk drawers at home
  16. See a financial planner
  17. Go see a musical
  18. Bet on a winning horse
  19. Bake homemade bread once a month
  20. Plan a surprise date for Benjamin
  21. Treat myself to a day spa experience
  22. Go wine tasting
  23. See a psychic or do reiki
  24. Join a professional organisation, or subscribe to a business magazine
  25. Host a dinner party for my family
  26. Donate blood
  27. Finish decorating at least one of the rooms!
  28. Finally complete the 1000 steps (without dying)
  29. Go out for a luscious duck dinner with friends
  30. Go to a roller derby, Whip It style

If anyone wants to help me out with the above, feel free to get in touch!

I’ll update you guys as I go along with any completed challenges and share the fun!