Brief history of tea

Shen Nung (神農), who was a herbalist and scholar. An interesting fact that he only drank boiling water due to the sake of hygiene. One day in 2737 BC, while he was resting under a wild tea tree, a slight breeze brew a few leaves into the simmering water that he was preparing. He found the resulting brew was delicious and refreshing, so tea was discovered.

Apple Walnut Cake

This is not a fancy cake, but an apple cake with olive oil. I read this recipe from Nigella Lawson's book, she suggest use rum to cook down the sultana and use walnut oil. Well, I think the rum's flavour will cover most of the cake and walnut oil is hard to find as well. Thus, I follow her side path to use olive oil and water to cook the sultana instead.

Ingredient: Sultana, walnut, lemon zest, cinnamon, egg, apple and flour.

$18 for a 8 inch. cake.

Glutinous rice ball with black sesame paste 芝麻湯圓

This is a traditional Chinese dessert usually eaten before the Chinese New Year.

In China, every family worship a "kitchen god" in their kitchen. At the end of the year, this god will go back to the heaven to report how this family did over the past year. The family made this sticky ball to glue the mouth of this god in order to prevent him from saying anything bad about the family.

Nowadays, these sweet ball also means reunion due to the round shape. It usually served in sweet soup made of brown cane sugar and ginger. The stuffing can varies from peanut paste to red bean paste.

Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf (Madeira Cake)

This a variation of Madeira cake. Madeira cake is a sponge cake in traditional English cookery. It has a firm yet light texture and is flavoured with lemon and butterly. Madeira cake was named after the Madeira wine, which often served with during the 19th century. An afternoon tea is not really the same without this cake.

$15 per loaf