McDonald's Grand Angus Burger & La Royale Patisserie

A new menu item at Mcdonald's means something new for me to try. Just released this week, the Angus burger comes in two varieities, 'Grand Angus' and 'Mighty Angus' burger. I opted to try the Grand Angus burger because it looked more appealing in terms of the salad component, if any.

Normally, the pictures of the food in advertisments do not generally match with what is actually made. However, in this instance, the Grand Angus burger really look like the picture but just flatter in comparison.

Encased in soft sourdough bread is a thick, juicy patty of Australian Angus beef, topped with baby salad leaves, red onion, mustard and mayonnaise sauce.

My burger lacked the baby salad leaves as only a few could be seen. This burger to me tasted really good. The bread was fresh, beef wasn't dry but was juicy and the onion just added an extra crunch factor. Being a fan of McDonald's processed cheddar cheese, I definitely like the two cheese slices that were added.

It may look small in the picture but it's twice the size of a normal cheeseburger and much more filling due to the thick patty. I definitely have to try the 'Mighty Angus' which has no veges of any sort except onions.

For dessert, I went to La Royale Patisserie located at Wetherill Park. A very popular place among the locals for great cakes, coffee and pastries. Today, I decided on the mango macaroon, chocolate macaroon and the meringue cake. The mango macaroon wasn't too sweet with a lovely outside biscuit.

The chocolate macaroon tasted chewy yet crunchy and was fairly good. I'm not really a fan of macaroons as I prefer my cakes.

This is a cake enjoyed by everyone. Covered with meringue bits is a mixture of sponge cake, cream, fruit and caramel. Great tasting cake that is a must try! I get it everytime I have the chance to.

La Royale Patisserie

9/1183-1185 The Horsley Dr

Wetherill Park, NSW 2164

Tel: (02) 9604 4008

Pizza Mia Review

I love eating pizza and trying something new. I wanted to try out these new Pizza's after seeing the ads on tv promoting the special deal of one pizza for $6.95 or you could get 3 for $15.00. It just looked so good on the commercials and of course I got the latter and ordered the 3 for lunch to test try. However, these pizza's have been getting prety bad reviews globally saying how terrible they are but that didn't stop me. These Pizza Mia's (Medium- 9inch) are much smaller than the Large-12inch pizza, more suited as an individual pizza. These pizza's seem to contain less grease in comparison to the normal pizza's, possibly due to the thinner crust.

1. Beef Mia
Topped to the edge with beef, mushroons and onion and a special blend of mozzarella and cheddar cheese on a perfecto base.

Verdict: The crust was thin and crispy. Toppings were aplenty without an overload of sauce. This one was my favourite of the 3. It had the most flavour with and was a good tasting pizza overall.

2. Chicken Mia
Topped to the edge with semi-dried tomatoes, capsicum and chicken and a special blend of mozzarella and cheddar cheese on a perfecto base.

Verdict: This wasn't a bad pizza but it lacked the flavour. There were burnt bits and too much dough and not enough toppings on some parts. I found the semi-dried tomatoes a bit too salty but other than that it was OK tasting.

3. Veggie Mia

Topped to the edge with mushrooms, semi-dried tomatoes and capsicum and a special blend of mozzarella and cheddar cheese on a perfecto base.

Verdict: This was my least favourite of the 3. I found it to be bland and lacked taste. There was too much semi-dried tomatoes which made the pizza salty.

Overall a good tasting pizza for a decent price but I rather order the larger size pizza's as they contain more flavour and kick. Would suit those looking for the 'healthier option' as there is barely any grease in comparison to a typical deep pan pizza.

Caramel Cookie Shots

Bite sized short bread cookies, served warm with a rich gooey caramel centre.

Verdict: Burnt at the bottom but still tasted nice with the sweet caramel filling and crunchy outside.

Chicken Wings

Chicken wings coated in New Orleans herbs and spices, baked to perfection and served with a ranch style sauce.

Verdict: These are my all time favourite's. These chicken wings are moist, juicy and crispy.

America

My favourite photo's from the recent trip to America:
Hawaii, Washington DC, New York, Orlando and Las Vegas.

Banana Bread

Banana Bread Recipe
Makes- 1 Serves- 8
Cooking Time- Approximately 1 hour

Ingredients:
90g butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups self-raising flour
3 ripe bananas

1. Grease a loaf tin. Preheat oven to 180 C.
2. Mash up the bananas and combine all ingredients using a wooden spoon or use a food processor to blend the ingredients.
3. Pour mixture into load and bake for 1 hour.

This banana bread tasted moist and delicious. Great toasted and spread with butter and honey.

Scones

Scone Recipe
(I halved the initial recipe)
Makes- 6
Cooking Time- 10 to 15 minutes

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 tbs caster sugar
40g butter cubed at room temperature
1/2 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 200 C. Combined the self-raising flour and sugar in a bowl and use your fingertips to rub in the cubed butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.


2. Make a well in the centre of bowl and add the milk all at once. Use a knife to combine and until it beings to hold together. Make sure you do not over mix. Once a dough is formed, bring together with hands and knead gently 4/5 times on a lightly floured surface.


3. Use a rolling pin to roll out dough untill about 2cm in thickness. Using a scone cutter, cut out the scones using a straight down motion. Place in baking tray at about 1cm apart.

4. Cook scones for about 15 minutes and then they're ready to be eaten with jam and cream! *licks lips*

I didn't have any jam or cream and was lazy to go out to buy. Instead, I ate my scones with ice-cream and maple syrup. A weird combination but it still tasted good.