The F Word (and I don't mean food this time)

Again I was reminded how life can just throw stuff at you, and today life decided to throw some rainy weather and a car at me. More on the car later but first the weather. The perfectly planned day of browsing the stalls at Good Living Growers Market was drowned out when I received an early morning sms from my fellow bloggers. I actually personally LOVE this kind of cloudy/drizzling weather as it is perfect for staying in bed and sleeping in, waking up late to a nice cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows and lazing at home all day watching dvds in your PJs ^^! Absolute bliss! But since the markets were supposed to be on today I was a bit disappointed by the weather and decided to bake something and cheer us up.

Pupu came over and we made this delightful recipe courtesy of Su-Yin from The Journal of a Girl who Loves to Cook. This Chocolate Cheesecake Brownie looked too good with the swirls of white and brown so I had to give it a shot so THAANKKKSS Su-Yin. Here comes the ingredients.

150g butter + 300g good quality dark chocolate + 2/3 c sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 c plain flour
1/4 c whipping cream
1/4 c sour cream

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Melt the butter, chocolate and sugar in the microwave in 30 second bursts until it becomes a smooth mixture. (I ended using a 100g mint chocolate Lindt bar and 225g of Lindt dark chocolate so my brownie ended up with a subtle minty flavour.) Allow mixture to cool and then whisk in the eggs, flour and creams. Mix with wooden spoon to combine well.

1 Philadelphia cream cheese (250g)
1/3 c castor sugar
1 egg

Whisk the cream cheese and sugar until it is smooth and fluffy. I have no electric mixer so it was much more troublesome for me. Add egg and beat until just combined.

Spoon the into a 8 inch round pan or square tin but alternate between the chocolate and cheese. I actually created a basic base of Coco Pops before spooning in the mixtures as I thought that would add a nice texture to it. Swirl with a chopstick or skewer and bake for 25-28 minutes in the middle shelf.

Allow to cool for 1-2 hours before cutting. While we waited we dug into The F Word season 1 by Gordon Ramsay due to NQNs' suggestion.

I have to say I was hooked in right from the beginning. Cooking shows are just fascinating and very addictive. The happenings in Gordon Ramsay kitchens are always entertaining and the side stories by Giles Coren are always amusing.

Pupu and I ended up powering through the first 3 episodes, drooling over all the delicious and appetizing foods on the screen before we were able to go out to dinner at Ryos (previous) with D, C and Cs' little brother.

Just outside of Ryos was where a car NEARLY HIT ME -___-". Pupu and I were crossing the road properly at the lights when a car doing a right turn came about 5cm from hitting me. I was a little bit distracted as my umbrella was failing to open and I was trying to fix it then Pupu let out a," careful!" and out of the corner of my eye I see these headlights turning towards me. My reflexes kicked in and put my hand down on the hood and jumped sideways away from the car. Luckily she was turning and wasn't going very fast but DAMMIT pay more attention when making right turns. I was a bit shaken and the adrenaline pumping around my system had me at full alert.

The sad thing is the driver and her passenger just stared blankly at us... didn't even bother to wave an apology or roll down the window to ask if I was ok. Then she just drove off like that... well nobody was hurt but that just pissed me off... so rude >_<>_<. Now that I vented back to the food! Some food manga to read while you wait for your food - I want to find english scanlations but have not succeeded yet.

I noticed that they had changed the specials since my last visit as I was considering between the sesame soup special (like last time) or the good old No. 4. Since there was I "Ryo's special recommend!" I decided to try it out.

Pupu ordered the No. 2

Both C and C's little brother ordered the Tokyo Ramen.

D's No. 4 - Miso Tonkotsu

My Special - Ramen noodles in special mild soy sauce, pork and fish soup.

I think Ryos was being generous tonight as the pork slices were quite big and the soup was thick and full of flavour. My soup had a nice touch of dried fish which compliments well with the soup.

2 Extra eggs and white rice
Did not end up getting any onigiris tonight as we did not have too much of an appetite.

The Ryo's competition
The prize is $100 if you are able to beat the current champions of this ramen challenge. For guys it is to eat 10 bowls of ramen and for the ladies is to eat 7 bowls. I am not sure if it is just 2nd serves but I do not think I will be attempting it haha.

Famous peoples' autographs including the Iron Chef French - Hiroyuki Sakai!

The tasty and refreshing mints at the counter which is always a good end to the wonderful meal

After the meal we parted ways and Pupu and I went back to continue our Gordon Ramsay marathon and gorge on our previously baked dessert. We get a sudden surprise in episode 4 of The F Word! The dessert for episode 4 just happened to be... yes similar to what we baked earlier today - Chocolate Cheesecake Pudding! Talk about coincidence!

I had to compare them haha. This one was by the guest Paul Beer.

Mine vs Gordon Ramsays' haha

I don't know how Gordons' tasted but my one was very very tastyyyy with good mixture of chocolate and cheesecake. The crunchy coco pop base was also a pleasant texture to have even though they are not as crunchy as they could have been. The subtle mint flavour was also welcome. All in all this browie was definitely built for this kind of weather, just need to heat up a little and add a scoop of ice cream ^^!

We ended up finishing another 3 episodes of The F Word and also 1 episode of The Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver. Both of them are awesommeee and am wanting to buy more dvds!

Ryo's Noodles
125 Falcon St, Crows Nest, Sydney
Tel: (02) 99550225

Open Thursday to Tuesday (closed Wednesdays)
Lunch 12.00pm-2.30pm
Dinner 5.00pm-10.00pm

FFichiban