Our 1st Bloggoversary

BettysBites is One Years of Age today Yippee :) Celebrating with dinner at Etch tonight, really can't wait!

Golden King 2000

Shop 13 172 Greenvalley Rd

Green Valley

New South Wales, 2168

Phone: (02) 9826 7500

After a whole day in the Blue Mountains, (and a not so filling lunch at Bygone Beautys), on the drive home we were thinking what to have for dinner. I really had trouble thinking of something local, took us ages to finally decide to eat here. I've been here once a long time ago, and have had take away as well.

The shopfront is shared by a newsagency, and i think a hairdresser as well. And behind, you can find an indian mart and a few other small shops that i can't remember.

Being seated straight away we were waitered by a bubbly middle aged Chinese woman, assuming that we spoke fluent Chinese, but then seeing our confused faces (Richard is Chinese, but doesn't speak it very well) she changed to the English language.

She was very chirpy and cheery, making jokes about things, and happily taking our order, and accommodating to my request for some nuts (they didn't charge for a small plate of cashew nuts yippee)

Sliced chinese mushroom with egg noodles $11

Shanghai Noodles with XO Sauce $10.50

I found both dishes were lacking flavour, i've had better noodles in Cabramatta before, and at this point, regret not going to Cabramatta for dinner. Richard, however, enjoyed both noodles (he isn't very hard to please hehe).

The big chunks of shallots were a bit overwhelming on the palate, but Richard enjoyed eating my bits :)

Dinner was cheap, but probably could've been cheaper in Cabramatta :P

I think this restaurant caters more for the non asian community, as there were a lot of different nationalities of people dining at the time we were there. They did a great job on service i was really happy with that, next time perhaps, i might ask for a side order of soy sauce to add some more flavour.

Blue Mountains Chocolate

176 Lurline Street

Katoomba, Blue Mountains

Ph: 02 4782 7071

While visiting Katoomba, we had seen this chocolate house - and just had to go in :)

We had just finished our Three Sister's walk, and weren't starved, but could do with a small snack, so we chose the brownies, and a few pieces of chocolates.

The brownie was dense, and cold from refridgeration, but slightly on the dry side. Richard liked it, but i'm more a fan of the fudgier type brownies.

I ate the first chocolate in one go, then after seeing the disappointment in Richard's face that i didn't go halves with him, i shared the other three with him haha :P

I don't remember the flavours that we had but they were all hand made. The shop has over 60 different hand made chocolates on offer. On top of that they have chocolate covered toffee and nuts, & fluffy nougat.

So here are pictures for a mini tour of the shop, enjoy!

different chocolate goodies

pick n mix!

i wanted to buy this but was scared it would break on the ride back to Syd

various chocolate moulds (vintage i think!)

assorted chocolates jams & oils

chocolate gift box sets

I left the shop with these two goodies in my bag. Chocolate buttons (milk & dark chocolate). Hoping to make some yummy biscuits with these :)

Birds Eye Vegetable Fingers

Before i stopped eating meat - i used to LOVE eating oven baked goodies like fish fingers, chicken nuggets, potato gems, potato chips, all those sorts of things. I remember back in high school, i would come home at 3 and put all these things under the grill and keep an eye on them, my two younger sisters would wait eagerly with their plate of tomato and BBQ sauce, waiting to dig in.

I miss fish fingers & chicken nuggets, so when i saw these at Coles supermarket - i had to buy them to try, hoping they would be like the real deal fish fingers i used to eat (alot) hehe.

One thursday night, i chucked a whole box of these under the grill, along with two handfuls of potato gems. Richard & I, armed with mayonnaise and ketchup, excitedly waiting for them to turn golden brown so we can eat (and watch UnderBelly heehee).

They look like fish fingers, with their bread crummy outsides, and inside, hot vegie mush consisting of peas carrots & potato. I much prefer these, as there was no fishy smell or taste. Oven baked (instead of frying) means there is less calories, and they didn't take too long at all. Only about 15 minutes under the grill (turning them over at half time).

These were great i just LOVE anything rolled in breadcrumbs and then grilled/fried. I wish junk food didn't have the high calorie price tag attached to them, i wish healthy food could taste as good as things like this.

White chocolate macadamia brownies

These brownies are the most moist that i've ever had - and i prefer them moist actually! SOOO simple to make, a quick & easy foolproof brownie mix that anyone can have a go at making.

300g dark choc, chopped

115g unsalted butter, chopped

150g castor sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup plain flour

180g white choc, chopped

100g unsalted macadamias, chopped

Preheat oven to 180'C. Line a 20cm square tin with non stick baking paper.

Place dark chocolate, butter & sugar in a stainless steel bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir until ingredients have melted.

Remove from heat and leave to cool for 5-10 minutes.

Stir in the beaten eggs. Mix in the flour, then stir in the white chocolate and macadamias until well combined.

Spoon into prepared tin, bake for 20-25 minutes.

Remove, cool before cutting into pieces.

I had it in the oven for 22 minutes- for a very fudgey & gooey brownies. Leave for an extra 5 minutes for a more firm but still moist brownie.