Om Nom Nom

Did you had a chance to skim through the news article entitled ‘How to control Hunger Pangs’ (Topham, 2011) which was featured on The Sunday Times over the weekend? The article basically explored on the reasons behind food cravings and ways to control it. It encourages us to enjoy desserts in a smaller portion as well as to live a healthy lifestyle.

• -Hunger is caused by the brain where it reminds us of how many hours ago since we last ate. (However, the gurgling noise is caused by the tummy.)
• -Your appetite is linked to your genes. 
• -Food cravings are linked to emotions and feelings.  
• -Some people like me, feel satisfied after having desserts. That’s the reason why I never    feel full without it. 
• - Lack of concentration while eating causes hunger too. 
• - In order to control your cravings, start by eating in small portion. (Practise makes perfect?)

When I enter French pastries shop, I often notice that French pastries always come in small portion. I guess that’s the reason behind healthier and slimmer French women. They consume as much (maybe more) dairy, wheat and vegetables as us but they look better. For more information about their diet please click here and here.   

Macarons and Mango Cake from Jean Pierre Sancho, Perth City

Ways to enjoy desserts in a smaller portion.

• ·         Eating out.

Feel like a piece of sticky date pudding or a vanilla ice cream after your main dish? Well you can control your diet by sharing it with a friend or between members of the family.

• ·         At home.

Bake muffins instead of cakes, bake smaller portion of cookies, scoop out a scoop of ice cream and place it in a bowl instead of eating from the tub. (Eat them with a teaspoon instead of tablespoon.) This will avoid consuming too much and you will feel fuller faster.

scanned images from The Sunday Times- 14 August 2011.

Yummy enough?

Have you ever felt like having something sweet in the middle of the day and would open the fridge, looked for 5 seconds and find that there’s nothing you would love to eat? You would then close the fridge and continue what you’re doing. Minutes later, you would repeat the opening and closing fridge process again for a few times until you find something to eat? If that doesn't happen to you, well then; that’s what I do most of the times and I ended up eating something different every day.

A cuppa with either three little petite pastries or a slice of chocolate cake on a Sunday afternoon is one of the moments in life that I enjoy most. Especially when accompanied with my family or close friends. Honestly, I prefer sitting down nibbling on food rather than shopping (Not that I don’t like to shop) as I personally think that I communicate better this way. In my native language, we call it ‘Yum Cha’ which means ‘Drink Tea’.

Ohhh! I munch on cookies or nuts every time I watch MasterChef. (So that I don't feel hungry?)

If the above applies to you, you should continue reading. 

Since I actively seek quality desserts (they don’t have to be expensive) and sometimes, make my own desserts. I will be recommending my favourite desserts and discoveries so that you know where to go and what to order. To those who prefer to enjoy the process of making your own desserts (measuring ingredients and mixing them up), I will be sharing recipes that I tried and found useful from books and websites. 

I am aware that there are hundreds (maybe more) of dessert/ food blogs out there but this blog is different because it’s based in Perth, Western Australia and it introduces Perth’s multicultural cuisine to the world. I do not have to fly all the way to Paris for macarons, I do not have to wait for summer break to fly home for all the street food because Perth offers most of these just a stone throw away.

It doesn’t matter whether you are interested in baking, mastering the art of baking or purely searching for places to enjoy these delicacies. (I am not a professional food critic or a professional baker). All I want to do is share my knowledge and experience that revolves around this topic.

Always leave room for Desserts.

My love and lust for desserts started when I was a child and was greatly influenced by my mother. Whenever she baked a cake, I would stand next to her and place my nose near the cake mixture; inhaling the tang of the butter and sugar mixture as much as I could before she added in the eggs and flour. When the cake was ready; I would always be the first one stood by the table impatiently, convincing my mother to cut a slice. 

Next to that, one of the very first few desserts I enjoyed was the colourful jelly Mooncakes. I remembered walking into the kitchen after school, looking at my mother pouring hot jelly mixtures into various shaped moulds. The kitchen bench were filled with bottles of food colouring, moulds, ingredients and all the utilities she would use. I would pick up things that caught my eyes and would ask so many questions until she had to chase me out of the kitchen just to avoid me messing around. 

Since moving to Perth and obtaining a driver’s license, I often drive around town searching for sweets and desserts. Google and Urbanspoon contributed to my findings by providing details and reviews on the cafes and restaurants. I love having desserts in new places as I find it exciting and I get to experience a little place with a different atmosphere and of course, a different menu.

I chose to blog about desserts because it’s what I tend to look forward to every time I eat out. I have a habit of scanning through the entree, main and side dishes and take more time to read and explore the dessert section in the menu. When the waiter/ waitress come to take our order, I will have to look at the mains and make a quick decision.

As Perth offers a variety of cuisine, my 'dessert-hunting' journey will be a never ending one. This little place will be where I will constantly share and write about everything sweet.