With the miserable weather we had last weekend, our plans for an outdoor celebration for a friend’s birthday were cancelled, but we were delighted to be invited to brunch at Elk instead. Elk espresso, in Broadbeach, has long been one of our favourite cafes on the Gold Coast.

Within a stones throw of the beach and outside of the craziness of the main strip, Elk is a favourite with the locals. Great coffee, fabulous food and above all an inviting atmosphere make Elk a place we will keep coming back to.

Despite the fact that we had a table of 10, the service was fantastic, the people were friendly and it was a warm and cozy spot to shelter away from the wild weather.

After seeing a picture on a friend’s Facebook, I couldn’t go past the spring tasting plate – even though the weather was more reminiscent of autumn.

The combination of fresh fruit, toasted granola and yoghurt with honeycomb was the healthy start I needed, and left me surprisingly full.

Kris decided on the smashed avocado and feta with poached eggs and corn salsa, which was, and I quote:

“In one word… ‘Amazing’”

“In more than one word… ‘The coffee was smooth and would appeal to most drinkers. The food is well priced and deeee-licious. It is presented beautifully, has generous servings and perfect flavour combinations’”

Thankfully the rain held off enough (only just) for us to catch the end of The Village Markets in Burleigh. Before everything packed up we had a giggle at some of the 80′s prom dresses on offer and I picked up a super cute floral vest from the jumble stall held by Marissa and Sarah, the wonderful ladies who are the brains behind TVM and have worked so hard bringing it from nothing to what it is today.

Before we left, we couldn’t go past a treat from ‘The Wicked Waffle’. We just had to revisit the flavours of one of our favourite treats from the Netherlands, stroopwafels. It has been a few years but we thought it was even more delicious than we remember the original one being!

Unfortunately we had a terrible cafe experience on our anniversary last Friday, but the fantastic time/service/coffee/food we had at Elk completely made up for it! The only thing is that we ended up kicking ourselves for not going straight to our trusted Elk instead of trying somewhere else (that will not be mentioned).

Elk is the perfect place to chill out and feel like you are visiting the home of a trendy friend, while admiring their awesome mural, vintage inspired table settings, and mismatched cups and taking your time over one of their fabulous breakfasts. Plenty of veggo options too, which keeps us very happy!

Elk Espresso:

Sixteen Chelsea Avenue, Broadbeach (across from the soccer club)

Gold Coast, Australia

Photos from: my camera

Monday Munchies – Hazelnut and Raw Cacao Butter

By jazziefizzle

April 16, 2012

food, Monday Munchies

2 Comments

Walking into our kitchen smells like autumn. The aroma of hazelnuts toasting on the stove reminds me that Easter has come and gone, that the days have become cooler and the blazers have been pulled to the front of my closet.

There is something about hazelnuts that is reminiscent of childhood, and so many people’s favourite spread, Nutella. When I bought some for crepes recently and read the label, I realised why mum had never given it to us as kids. It is choc full of sugar and ingredients that I am currently trying to avoid, so I thought I would attempt to create my own version, using raw cacao.

Unfortunately my homemade version doesn’t have the smooth, silky consistency of the original, but I can feel good enjoying it in moderation, knowing exactly what was involved in making it.

As with any nut butter a good food processor is key, as is the patience to let it go for far longer than you think it needs. Doing this made me realise that I have been taking it off far too early when I have attempted nut butters in the past.

Hazelnut and Raw Cacao Butter:

Just over a cup of hazelnuts

1/4 cup raw cacao

1 tablespoon of maple syrup (or other sweetener such as agave)

See update: Coconut oil or macadamia oil

Toast the hazelnuts over medium heat, shaking regularly, until the nuts are browned
Remove from the heat and rub the nuts in a clean tea towel to remove the skins
Put the hazelnuts in the food processor and run at the top speed. Leave it to run, scraping the sides down occasionally, until the nuts have released their oils. It will take longer than you expect so just be patient.
When it starts to look the consistency of peanut butter, turn off and add the raw cacao and maple syrup
Process until fully combined
Enjoy on toast, crepes or apple slices

UPDATE: my original batch became quite dry when it was stored in the fridge, so I added a couple tablespoons of coconut oil and stirred until it was combined. The consistency became spread-able and much closer to the original. I imagine a nut oil like macadamia would work well also. Be aware that coconut oil will solidify in the fridge but should become liquid at room temperature.

Photos from: my camera

Why I love my iPad

By jazziefizzle

April 13, 2012

life, phone-ography

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When I started getting into cooking, I would constantly go back and forth between my computer and the kitchen, looking up recipes, or be flicking through recipe books, trying to find the page I was after. One day I thought, how good would it be if you had some kind of electronic cookbook, where you could store recipes or browse the web for what you needed?

Little did I know that the iPad would one day be invented, and along with it a whole bunch of apps that do exactly what I was after. Clearly I am not the only one that had that very problem.

Though there are some great cooking apps (including Jamie Oliver and Donna Hay magazine) the one that really stands out to me is Pepperplate.

It has all the features you could want in a recipe app, meal planning, shopping list and best of all you can import recipes directly from many websites including taste.com or can copy and paste recipes in, keeping a link to the original source. This is a huge help for someone like me that has recipes bookmarked and printed out all over the place, I like to be able to trace back to the original and to attribute credit to recipe authors if I have used or adapted their recipes.

The iPad also makes blogging a breeze, I can lay on the couch, in bed, or on the daybed and type away to my hearts content without feeling like I am working or studying, take, edit and upload photos and of course share my link all over social media.

Unfortunately I have not as yet found an app that suits my needs to keep all of my twitter, facebook, google + and instagram all in one spot, but I will be sure to share if I find one that works for me.

Other apps I can’t live without:

Notability – for note taking at uni

Instagram – the large screen makes for amazing browsing,

Punch fork – for browsing recipe ideas and looking at stunning food photography

Of course the photography apps are always good fun, especially for mucking around taking self portraits with my parents…

…and to quickly grab to take a snap of something delicious I have cooked!

Follow me on instagram for plenty more where these came from: jazziefizzle

Most of all, the reason why I love my iPad is because my fantastic boyfriend bought/encouraged me to buy it! Thanks baby!!

What are your favourite go-to apps? Please don’t suggest games as I have just kicked my draw something addiction… It is far too much fun on a large screen with a stylus!

Photos from: my iPad