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Samantha Lin

Samantha Lin

Category Archives: Gastronomical Delights

Flour Hour: Vegan Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Squares (Gluten-Free)

06 Wednesday May 2015

Posted by Samantha Lin in Gastronomical Delights

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photography: food, recipes: chocolate, recipes: dairy-free, recipes: flour hour, recipes: gluten-free, recipes: no baking, recipes: peanut butter, recipes: squares, recipes: traybakes, recipes: vegan

I attended a couple of committee meetings last week, during which I shared my vegan almond cookies. A fellow attendee who can’t eat dairy was especially fond of them, and was excited when she discovered I’d posted the recipe. Meanwhile, I’d sent out an email to my Renaissance classes reminding them about this week’s final play-focused tutorial and asking if anyone had any requests for goodies—one of them suggested I repeat some chocolate peanut butter pieces I’d made last month. My dairy-free friend messaged me a few days later, informing me she’d successfully made the almond cookies, and that she was delighted in having found yummy treats she could stomach. With all that in mind, I decided to experiment a little on the previous chocolate peanut butter (pseudo-)squares, and make these Flour Hour goodies dairy-free. They also happen to be vegan and gluten-free, so I promptly texted a celiac friend about the noms, and she was happy to pick some up from my house after work.

All of which is to say: there were many circumstances and powers of awesomeness at work in the creation and production of this week’s Flour Hour (which happens to be a misnomer, but hey).

Yes yes yes.

Yes yes yes.

These were very, very simple to make, required no baking, took about 40 minutes of meandering, and left me with only two bowls, a spatula, and a few spoons to wash. And they’re so glorious I had to give them away for fear of eating them all.

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Flour Hour: Vegan Almond Cookies

28 Tuesday Apr 2015

Posted by Samantha Lin in Gastronomical Delights

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photography: food, recipes: almond, recipes: baking, recipes: cookies, recipes: flour hour, recipes: vegan

I have a bit of a confession to make: I’ve been restaurant-hopping, conference-crashing, and living out of the freezer since Easter. Most of this is due to the insane workload I’ve taken on (but hey, I have ten fingers, so I can totally put them into ten pies!), but short of cutting down on sleep (which I may or may not have done), I’ve not been playing in the kitchen as much as I would like—a real shame, since I’ve been sitting on a brilliant idea for what would come after my pound cake project. All I would need is an hour to whip up some baked goods… Fortunately, amidst all the craziness today, I decided to take five (times twelve) to make some super delicious cookies. And so, I’m proud to present the first recipe of Flour Hour: almond cookies (which happen to be vegan)!

almond-cookies-5

Almond cookies in all their delicious glory.

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Belfast Fivers: Kurrito

25 Saturday Apr 2015

Posted by Samantha Lin in Gastronomical Delights

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cities: belfast, europe: northern ireland, food: burritos, photography: food, reviews: belfast fivers

I’ve always been a huge fan of Boojum in Belfast, but a while ago, a friend and colleague suggested trying out Kurrito’s curry burritos. I’m a little sceptical of fusion flavours because they can be anywhere between amazeballs (Wild Ginger in Vanuatu comes to mind) and horrendous (clearly, I’ve erased those from my memory), but I decided to try out Kurrito with an open mind.

The lovely staff at work with my tortilla.

The lovely staff at work with my tortilla.

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Belfast Fivers: Build a Burger

19 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by Samantha Lin in Gastronomical Delights

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cities: belfast, europe: northern ireland, food: burgers, photography: food, reviews: belfast fivers

I’ve been amassing a collection of photos and notes about restaurants in Belfast, but only just had a chance to sit down and put together a proper post. When I started teaching on a university course in February, I ended up spending quite a bit of time in the university area, and decided to try out a bunch of eateries. I was open to try out anything and everything, but seeing as the student area always had a whole bunch of meal deals and such, I toyed with the idea of doing a series of blog posts about relatively cheap eats. The aim was to find lunch (or perhaps even dinner) for under £5, and to that end, I present to you the first of the Belfast Fivers: Build a Burger!

Burgers at the ready! I had a BBQ Double, while my friend had a vegan burger (much to her delight).

Burgers at the ready! I had a BBQ Double, while my friend had a vegan burger (much to her delight).

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The Pound Cake Project: Part 3 – Finale (Days and Ways #9-12)

20 Friday Mar 2015

Posted by Samantha Lin in Gastronomical Delights

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photography: food, recipes: baking, recipes: cake, recipes: themes and variations

It’s time for the finale of the pound cake project! (For the previous posts, check out part 1 and part 2.) I had great fun playing with these four variations, and was very pleased with all the results. Unfortunately, my camera SD card decided to give out after I’d taken photos for the final variation, and I didn’t realise until much later… Fortunately, I’d snapped a photo with my phone because I couldn’t resist sharing it with a few friends—I hope you won’t mind the sub-par quality of the shot!

And without further ado, here are the last four pound cake variations:

Day/Way #9: French “toast”

If you can dunk a slice of bread in an eggy, milky mixture and fry it, why not do the same with pound cake?

Why not, indeed!

Mmm-hmm.

Mmm-hmm.

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The Pound Cake Project: Part 2 (Days and Ways #5-8)

11 Wednesday Mar 2015

Posted by Samantha Lin in Gastronomical Delights

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Tags

photography: food, recipes: baking, recipes: cake, recipes: themes and variations

It’s been way too long since my initial 12 Days and Ways with Pound Cake post (more from the lack of time to post than to gobble up the goodness), but I’ve finally put together the next four variations. Hope you get a chance to enjoy these!

Day/Way #5: Simply fried

I heated a rough tablespoon glob of butter on medium-high until it was happily bubbling away, then added my fifth slice of pound cake. Mine was a little charred because I was indecisive about which ice-cream I wanted, and subsequently got distracted rummaging through my freezer. Eventually, I opted for a few scoops of gooey Häagen-Dazs salted caramel, which was just delightful with the butter-fried and slightly caramelised cake.

poundcake-05-fried-a

Lots of wonderful contrasts here: sweet and salty, hot and cold, crunchy and creamy.

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12 Days and Ways with Pound Cake (Cake Recipe and #1-4)

09 Monday Feb 2015

Posted by Samantha Lin in Gastronomical Delights

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Tags

photography: food, recipes: baking, recipes: cake, recipes: themes and variations

One of my favourite ways to spend a free(-ish) afternoon is to amble into the kitchen, switch on the radio, and play with my mixing bowls. A few weeks ago, when my afternoon/evening plans fell through and I didn’t want to clock any ‘over-time’, I decided to flip through my trusty copy of Nick Malgieri’s How to Bake in search of something to use up some soon-to-be out-of-date eggs—and lo, on page 280, I found his ‘Easy Pound Cake’. Named after its historic 1-1-1-1 ratio of butter, eggs, flour, and sugar (in pounds—hence the name), this cake is fairly common, but one I hadn’t made before. So I pulled over my apron, rolled up my sleeves, and got down to some serious hand-mixing.

The gorgeous darling.

The gorgeous darling.

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Waffles in Antwerp (Belgium)

06 Saturday Dec 2014

Posted by Samantha Lin in Gastronomical Delights

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Tags

an australian in europe, photography: food, photography: places, random: food

So I recently went to Antwerp (in Belgium) for a couple of days, during which I ate a couple of waffles. And then a couple more waffles. Mmm, waffles…

But as much fun as it is to eat waffles, it was even more fun to photograph and write about the noms. And so, here we are!

Antwerp has a cathedral. And also waffles.

Antwerp has a cathedral. And also waffles.

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