Bitesize Treats iPhone app: a review

It's no secret that I'm into cute. Frills, flounces, buttons and bows, if it's pink and dainty, I find it irresistible.

Same goes for small versions of things - babies, kittens, miniature ornaments and cocktail food. Why have a slice of quiche when you can have a mini-quiche with a baby tomato on top? WHY?

When asked to review this adorable app, I said yes in about negative 2.3 seconds. For many reasons.

1. Bitesize Treats. Treats. Bitesize. Sold!

2. It is based on the Hardie Grant bestselling book Bitesize: 50 Macarons, Cakepops and Cute Things. (Cute Things... #winning)

3. I had just upgraded to an iPhone 4 and I was interested to see how this would work.

4. I am an iPhone app freak. I have pages and pages of them which I refuse to put into folders, because I love them all and want to look at them. They're organised in groups, but I won't hide them. The icons themselves are cute! 

5. I am a cooking app conoisseur. The flour stuck in my earpiece and random greasy butter smears all over my phone are testament to my new-found addiction to recipes on-the-go.

6. I love reading. It's a rare day indeed that I do a straight review, but I am happy to promote books, reading and cooking. To anyone. Anytime.

Macarons! Cake Pops! Cupcakes, oh my!

I have to say, I wanted to make just about everything as soon as I opened the app. That right there is a good sign.

The photography and food styling is gorgeous... everything looked so enticing.

Ok, back up - what? Blueberry mojito? In popsicle form? Genius. When the weather is warmer these will be the first on my to-do list. Mama needs a summer treat. Anyone wanna join me?

I've never made churros before - I suck at piping and I don't deep-fry anything, really. Except pickles. Everyone should make an exception for deep-fried pickles. And anyhow, I cheat and shallow-fry, which I'm fairly sure can't be done with churros. However - chili chocolate sauce should never be overlooked in such a manner. And I like that I can favourite this recipe and make the sauce for something else.

The ingredients tab of each recipe are helpfully accompanied by a plus sign, which when clicked, will add the ingredient to the shopping list section of the app. 

The method tab also has boxes for you to check when you have completed a step. When I was younger, I read a tip that if you put all your ingredients on the left side of your bench, when you're done with it you move it to the right side, so you always know where you're up to. Being able to check off as I go, even though the recipe is on my phone, is incredibly handy for me as I've now got to abandon recipes partway through to prop up a slumping Veggie Baby, or stop the cat trying to sit on her head, or collect her if she's woken early from her nap. I'm likely to forget my own name these days, so having this as an option is a winner.

The shopping list function is exceedingly useful, as I take my phone everywhere, including the supermarket. I love that its organised either by aisle (dried herbs and spices/packaged goods etc) or by recipe. Once you have put the item into your cart, you check the box and the item moves to the bottom of the list. No more confusion and getting home to find you missed the ginger because it was sandwiched in between the celery and vanilla extract on your list and once you collected them you stopped looking at that section.

 And if that wasn't enough, there is even an oven timer, which is great for busy and/or forgetful people like me. Who cook by instinct and only remember something in the oven because all of a sudden it kinda smells like chocolate brownies with a tinge of burning.

The app is available from iTunes, and is priced at $4.49. For more information, you can go here.

If you want a blueberry mojito popsicle, you can come to my house.

*I was given a free app to review. That's all, folks!

Bento

I get very excited about bento. A Japanese version of a lunchbox, bento has devoted followers not just in Japan, but all over the world. And I can see why. It appeals to my senses of order and pretty - some bentoists go to elaborate measures to present food in the most attractive way possible. I just like how it looks in its tiny little sections, all delicately garnished and separate and cute. And please, don't get me started on the containers themselves... they were just about the only thing I brought back from Japan!

Below is how I'd have my lunch every day if only I had the time, the inclination, and the skill:



Never gonna happen.
Link



Below is one way that bento can be constructed in Japan for either lunch or dinner:




I love the random bits of one orange segment or one cherry tomato.
Link



Below is how a lazy Australian Veggie Mama packs a bento:



Still tastes good!

Extra snacks :)

Fruit and treats.

I love bento for the excuse I get to have cute things and make my food look pretty. On the plus side, the food also tastes good. On the negative side, it can take slightly more effort than slapping some Vegemite on Wonder White and throwing some Iced Vo-Vos in Glad Wrap. But honestly? Not much more. The point is to have it tightly packed, garnished, cracks filled and tiny portions of lots of things. Speaking of tiny portions, Japan was Veggie Mama's dream come true. Everything I ate was dainty and perfectly proportioned for me - right down to the three artfully-placed drops of ketchup next to my neatly mounded mashed potatoes. sigh.

For this I've added some dinner leftovers... veggies sauteed in garlic, chili, teriyaki sauce and rice wine vinegar, some rice, and two bamboo-wrapped mock chicken pieces. Hello Kitty contains wasabi peas, cherry tomatoes and edamame for snacking or as extras (extra containers are known as 'sidecars' among the bento enthusiasts) and the Clickety Click container with grapes, a jam sandwich and a cream cheese sandwich cut into shapes, and a mini Hershey treat. The top of this container kills me with its Engrish - it says "Yummy yummy, my name is Rinda. I love the white cake. And sweet cherries", and has a picture of a yellow, winking rabbit. ADORABLE.

There are tons of bento blogs for you to check out, should you be so inclined, with tons of ideas to make your food cute. Some make Pokemon cheese shapes for their kindergartners, some colour their rice blue and make a full underwater scene with their food. Some press boiled eggs into various shapes that imprint cheerful faces on them, some cut octopi out of hot dogs. I will be doing all this and more when Bumpington goes to school, so lets put the good vibe out there now that it will be a girl, as I"m not sure a son would ever forgive me....

Easter baby chick cupcakes!

Probably more a post for the ladies here... or the more nimble - fingered of you.

naw, cute, right?

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups plain flour

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/3 cup butter

1 cup milk

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

FROSTING:

2 cups icing sugar

cream

yellow food colouring

2 cups coconut

Brown and orange M&Ms


Method:

1. Heat oven to 180 C.  Put paper cases in 24 muffin tins (or halve the recipe and do 12, or bake 12 at a time).

2. In a medium bowl, beat flour, sugar, butter, milk, baking powder, salt, vanilla and egg. Either beat 3 minutes with a mixer, or get that baking bicep out and mix by hand for a few minutes. fill paper cases half full.

3. Bake 15-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool completely on a rack.

FROSTING:

This is the fun part! add tablespoonsful of cream to the two cups of icing in a bowl, until it gets to the desired stage. Some people like runny, I prefer it a little stiff.

2. Add a few drops of yellow food colouring and mix. Here's one I prepared earlier...

Now for your chick feathers... add 2 cups coconut to a ziplock bag, drop in some food colouring, seal it up and rub it all with your fingers to dye the coconut. Fun!

When cupcakes are completely cool, ice with yellow frosting. Put the coconut in a small bowl, and dip the cupcakes icing-side down into it to completely cover.

Add brown M&Ms for eyes, sticking on with a little frosting for glue. Poke orange M&Ms in for the beak... total cuteness.

Happy Easter barbecue customer...

Recipe from Betty Crocker.

Baby Chick Cupcakes