sweetoven

2005-10-18T09:13:00.003-07:00

chicken

2005-10-18T09:13:00.002-07:00

sashimi

2005-10-18T09:13:00.001-07:00

softshell crab

2005-10-18T09:13:00.000-07:00

nameko

2005-10-18T09:12:00.002-07:00

paris

cafe marly

2005-10-18T09:12:00.001-07:00

onion tart

2005-10-18T09:12:00.000-07:00

tuna dinner

2005-10-18T09:11:00.001-07:00

falafel

baklava

mint tea

2005-10-18T09:11:00.000-07:00

hummus

A trip down Notting Hill

2005-10-18T09:10:00.002-07:00

booksforcooks

I don't remember exploring much of Notting Hill during my time in London (7 yrs ago as a young almost adult!) But this time round, i knew there were certain establishments i had earmarked to visit and it was exactly where i headed FIRST day of arrival in London. Books for Cooks being certainly one of them! The famous little bookstore that only sells cookbooks from everything to well...everything... I dragged my poor boyfriend (then!) through the rain (the only day of rain we had during our 2 week trip there) to find this store. And from the Notting Hill Tube station, it certainly wasn't the easiest shop to find. Testament to it being an established feature of Notting Hill, the 3 people i stopped to ask in my quest to find it in the rain all knew EXACTLY where it was, albeit with rather complicated (but specific)instructions on how to get there (take the first right, then the third left and walk straight down, then the 4th left and the immediate right)!

I eventually found it, and walked in to stare at all the books that lined the shelves from floor to ceiling! There were food novels, cook books, even a collection of Books for Cooks favourite recipes!
Unfortunately, i did find the cookbooks more expensive than what i could find at Borders, so i managed to refrain from snatching anything off the shelves, apart from the award winning memoir by Nigel Slater called 'Toast' (about his childhood food related memories). I have yet to read it - saving it for a cosy rainy weekend when I'm in need of a comfort soothing read.

books4cooks

books for cooks

My only regret was having lunch before walking in here (pic above). There is a small little unassuming cafe at the back of the book shop where the resident 'chef' tries different recipes from the WEALTH of cookbooks available at the shop. A 3 course lunch for 7pounds would have been a nice treat (and bargain for London standards!)but alas - i was stuffed.

The Spice Shop - another establishment foodie tourists tend to pay homage to, located right opposite Books for Cooks. I have read that chefs all over London visit this store for hard to find spices ordinarily not available in Tesco's! It's a small little shop packed to the brim with bright yellow tins of Spices. The pungent smell hits you the minute you walk through the door. I asked the shop assistant for peppermint bark (something i cant seem to find in Singapore) but unfortunately she didn't have that (although - that's not quite a spice is it?)

thespiceshop

Just around the corner from Books for Cooks was a delicious looking gourmet store (not unlike Dao Paolo's delicatessen in Holland Village) with the most beautiful array of freshly baked breads/ bagels/ foccaccia and other such goodies. It was all i could do to stop myself from sweeping them all off their pretty displays and doing a runner with them stuffed down my zipped jacket! My heart was willing - my stomach mostly still stuffed from lunch . pity pity pity!

bread galore

2005-10-18T09:09:00.000-07:00

cupcakes

2005-10-18T09:08:00.000-07:00

gastro pub food!

Gone Missing

2005-10-11T21:53:00.000-07:00

I've been away from my blog so long i really don't know where to begin. You might have noticed about a million pictures posted with no accompanying text. The truth is that i've been so busy 'living it' that i haven't had the time (or the energy) to write about it. After my last mammoth dinner party cook up ( which i will write about shortly to fill in the gaps to my pictures), i rushed off to England and Paris for 2 weeks - but not without a hearty appetite and a camera in tow! One week after my return, a few pounds to shed, about a hundred dollars worth of French cheese in my fridge, a small suitcase worth of chocolate from Paris and an engagement ring later (yes, oh my god! bring on the chocolate!) - I'm finally ready to settle into my food writer's chair and share the wonderful whirlwind of the past few weeks.

So hopefully if you havent given up on me - i'm back to talk. More coming soon!

2005-09-10T22:37:00.000-07:00

Sticky bun preparations!

2005-09-10T22:36:00.000-07:00

Sticky Buns

The cookbook addiction

2005-09-10T22:35:00.002-07:00

Cookbooks!

I first started reading cookbooks as a therapeutic way of winding down my work day during a particularly stressful time at work last year. I had previously been rather stingy with my book purchases - believing that most recipes could either be borrowed or downloaded from the net. But boy - how things can change in a year. One comforting cookbook in bed led to another, and then another... which then progressed to browsing through them on Sunday mornings as a 'therapeutic way' to spend the morning... and it just steam rolled into one big fat obssession with cookbooks. I would lurk around the cookbook shelves of Borders and try not to salivate. Gasp and clutch a book to my chest in pure waves of desire - only to put it away with a sigh.
But not long ago - i received $600 worth of book vouchers for a photo shoot i had done. Oh the glee! The huge amount of lurking i did at borders, clutching at books and the joy of not having to put it back on it's shelves.
I did my research mind you. I have come to realise for example that great pictures do not a great cookbook make (not necessarily anyway). That not all cookbooks are born equal, and some are truly mediocre with mediocre recipes (despite all the hype). That those that might appear daunting at first, might turn out to be the most useful of the lot( and the only reason they appear daunting is because of all that text, that actually serves to take you through step by step, never leaving out the tiniest details.)

So what you see is a pic of some of my recent purchases.

Vegetarian Cooking for everyone is a Mammoth book that is apparently quite the bible for vegetarian cooks (and has won a few awards). i've always wanted to get into Vegetarian cooking, beyond my repertoire of stir fry vegetables and tofu at any rate! I have yet to try anything from this book (and it's one of those with a very limited number of photos), so it should be interesting taking the plunge!

Baking with Julia is one of the best investments i have made as far as cookbooks are concerned. Daunting at first (so much text!) but it truly takes you through every step of the way - ensuring a minimal chance of failure (as long as you are good at following instructions!) i have tried about 7 recipes from this book, and they have all turned out amazing. With the exception of the bagel recipe, which i think is a truly questionable recipe. Otherwise - i would reccomend this book heartily to all avid bakers out there.

The Zuni Cafe Cookbook - This was recommended on 101cookbooks.com - one of my favourite food sites. It's a beautiful book and another one of them that has won a handful of awards. Extremely detailed on everything from how to make salads to meats to desserts. Not only is it an enjoyable read, it is also educational and unpretentious. I tried the braised beef chuck recipe(my first attempt from this book) and it turned out beautifully-so i've got a great start from this one!
Here's a pic of it below:

Zuni Cafe Cookbook

Kitchen by Michelle Cranston - i've yet to open this one, but beautiful big book with beautiful pictures and lots of good reviews from other blogs and friends alike so i'm hoping this is going to be another faithful companion.

French Laundry by Thomas Keller - this restaurant of course, has earned it's reputation for one of the finest places in the world for an exquisite meal. I was in Napa Valley last year and never managed to drive that extra half hour to where this restaurant was located. I wasn't on the biggest holiday budget, but would have liked to just peek through the windows anyway. Or maybe beg for some scraps of cheese. But now - i have the book. Incredibly complex recipes and certainly those fit for your most royal of guests. Meals to cook from when you want to truly impress and spend an entire day fiddling about making it. Having said that, the cooks of Saint Pierre love this one - so do other gourmand friends in the 'industry' so i guess it's got rave reviews. Personally, i'm not sure how many I'll be able to attempt from this book. A bit overly fancy for my blood and i suspect i might just end up flipping through it from time to time and sighing wistfully.
So here's a pic of it and a sample of what it looks like inside. Certainly a book almost made to frame.

French Laundry Cookbook

French Laundry cookbook

A Mammoth dinner for six

2005-09-10T22:34:00.002-07:00

Onion tart

braised beef

Dessert

The real deal

This was for a mammoth dinner i had done for a dinner for 6. It took a huge amount of effort, and involved me standing in the kitchen WITHOUT rest for 8 hours straight.
By the time my guests came, i was all ready to send them right back home. All i wanted to do was sit and stretch out my tired legs with a bag of crisps!

This was a bit of a tricky dinner because my friend's boyfriend who was coming refuses to eat vegetables(the freak!). So the option of tossing a flavourful salad for a starter was not really an option.

I had wanted to try a Braised Beef shoulder for the main meal for which i had a recipe for in my newly purchased book 'The Zuni Cafe Cookbook'.

So here was the menu for the night:
Starter:
Onion tart with a mixed salad dressed with balsamic vinagerette

Main course:
Braised Beef Shoulder Chuck served with buttermilk Mashed potatoes and Glazed Carrots

Dessert:
Phyllatello with Ice Cream and Summer Berries

My pictures don't do justice to how this turned out. The onion tart turned out well, EVENTUALLY. There was a lot of fiddling with the tart pastry, which didnt seem to roll out very well without crumbling into a million dry flaky pieces. I was wary of adding too much water when making the dough because of the constant warning that too much water leads to shrinkage in the oven, but i suspect a bit more water would not have done too much damage. I had to make my tart pastry TWICE - the second time a little more successful than the first!
But overall - i believe it was a success, although a bit heavy for my liking (a lot of cream and eggs added to the cooked onion.

The Main course was a dream. My friend raved about the sauce, which involved an entire bottle of robust Red wine, 1 and a half chickens for the stock (With a lot of flavourful vegetables thrown in), a pork leg added to this concoction after the entire braising had been done (first time i have ever used a pork leg, which certainly seemed to do the trick - this was the alternative to a beef stock, which would have been far more expensive).
The beef was tender (i think the oven time was 4 hours? )although i suspect a TAD overcooked.

The dessert was beautiful. Very fancy schmancy looking without too much hard work as i had used ready made phyllo pastry to make it.

Overall,a successful dinner, but a lot of hard work and incredibly time consuming!

Delicious Tomato Tart

2005-09-10T22:33:00.000-07:00

vine ripened tomatoes

Tomato Tart - the real version!

This is a beautiful starter. It's simple, it looks wonderful, and it doesnt take much time at all (as long as you're willing to use frozen puff pastry instead of making it layer upon buttery layer yourself!)

Vine ripened tomatoes are often seen as the 'superior' tomato and heartily recommended in most cookbooks where tomato is the central feature. However, in Asia - vine ripened tomatoes are helluva expensive, and about 5 times the price of normal (non vine attached) ones. I think there IS a distinct difference in flavour, and hence - i splurged this time on proper pricey vine ripened ones to make these tomato tarts.

Basically, the recipe here is simple.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
Roll out the defrosted puff pastry into 3 inch width rectrangles (or whatever size you want really!)
Make an indent with your knife to shape the (left and right hand )border of the pastry (on both sides).
Brush both borders with egg yolk using a pastry brush (so they turn a nice pretty golden after baking).
Slice the tomatoes and place them in the centre of the rolled out pastry.
Sprinkle with sea salt and rosemary.
Put into oven for approx 20 mins.

Remove, and place a dollop of goat cheese on the pastry.
Serve immediately!

Below is the pic of the tart taken from the Magazine

tomatoe tart from mag

2005-09-10T22:32:00.000-07:00

Scallops

Single Female behaviour

2005-09-08T18:44:00.000-07:00

i thought i should share a little story that might either gross some of you out or make you nod your head in acknowledgement (i doubt it'll be the latter though).
i had made another batch of choc cupcakes recently. i had brought one to work, carefully packed in a tupperware, but had not had the chance to eat it, and hence when I returned home after a late night out with tupperware in hand, i left it by my bed side, passing out on my bed in exhaustion.

My boyfriend had been away for a week. I had not been sleeping well without him by my side (aaawww). At 2am that night, i opened my eyes, wide awake and strangely - hungry. (this is a rare thing. I never usually wake up in the middle of the night). I tossed and turned for a bit, and eventually sat up. I turned on my bed side light - and there it was - my chocolate cupcake sitting lonely in it's plastic casing.
I opened the tupperware, carefully held up the cupcake, (had a feeling of having to look around me to make sure no one was watching) and starting chomping into it, eyes half open, hair ratty, licking the icing and downing the chocolate sponge in big sleepy bites. Body still tucked away under my duvet, head resting on pillow.

After i had finished the last crumbs, i turned off the light, and went right back to sleep.

I woke up the next morning with a niggling feeling i had done something awfully bad,
i looked at the empty tupperware and there it was ! The evidence!

This is what my friend calls 'Single Female Behaviour.'

The things we do when alone in bed. For some, the stories could be much more sordid -for me, it was eating a giant cupcake in bed!

the 'grown up version'

My love affair with Bagels

2005-08-31T08:14:00.000-07:00

Bagels!

I fell in love with Bagels when i was living and studying in London. There was this dinky little Bagel shop sandwiched in between 2 giant retail outlets just off Oxford Street. It was just round the corner from Top Shop. I tried a toasted poppy seed bagel with bacon and blue cheese for the first time, wrapped up in foil, a warm little package with the blue cheese threatening to ooze out the sides of the bagel.
It was chewy, crunchy on the sides (toasted) and the combination of blue cheese with bacon was nothing short of perfect. plus it was cheap!

Another memory of bagels would be trotting down to a jewish bakery near where i was living with my boyfriend (then) in London, and buying a bag of warm just out of the oven bagels for breakfast. I would take it home in its little brown paper bag, and
Eat it with butter and a glass of orange juice- it was a good life!

Baking Bagels
So when i bought my first book on BREAD, bagels were one of the first things i wanted to make. Bagels don't come by often in Singapore. You do find those Frozen ones in some supermarkets, and i dare say they are not too bad, but really - what can beat freshly baked bagels made by Your very own proud self?

This is probably the 4th time i have made bagels. This is the first time however that i have experimented with different toppings.
THe batch made 6 bagels - i made 2 with onion toppping, 1 with sesame topping, another with poppy seed topping, and 2 plain.

I ate the first one, plain, standing in the kitchen, impatiently split into 2 with my bread knife, the bagel still so hot out of the oven it burnt my fingers. I slathered on the butter and the cream cheese, and had my little piece of heaven.

If you could capture this feeling in a bottle, it would sell by the millions!
Recipe in a sec!

More bagels to come!

Fourth and Fifth Session at the French Kitchen

2005-08-23T22:02:00.000-07:00

I have been juvenile. I didn't manage to post my French kitchen session last week - so i'm just going to combine my stories of the past 2 weeks in today's posting.

Last week, i had talked to one of the chefs about the French Laundry by Thomas Keller. He had said it was the book he referred to most often. (All the chefs in the kitchen turn their noses up at Jamie Oliver and other similar 'celebrity chefs' poo-poo-ing at them for not having done their 'time' in the kitchen and not being 'real chefs'. They have something in common with Anthony Bourdain then!

I told him i had just purchased the beautiful book and everything in it looked AMAZING but oh-so-scary to make. I told him i had wanted to learn how to make Basil Oil (it looks great on a plate, and adds that extra panache to a lovingly cooked meal - i cant wait to try it! ) He said thomas Keller's recipe didn't quite work - that he would teach me Dean's version when i came next Tuesday (Dean is the Souz Chef).
So yesterday, true to his word, I walked in, Dean said 'I hear you wanna learn how to make Basil Oil'. I gave a big over eager smile (i wasn't sure if they would entertain my little requests!) and hence came a quick and simple demonstration!

I'm writing it down now just so i don't forget:

Basil Oil Recipe

Take a big bunch of Italian Basil - pluck leaves from their stalks.
Place in a big bowl.
Heat a pot of water until boiling.
Prepare a large bowl of ice cubes (make sure there are lots of ice cubes)
Heat a pot of extra virgin olive oil - take it off the hob when it's warm.

Pour boiling water over Basil.
5 seconds later - dump half the ice cubes into the bowl.
Transfer everything to the large bowl containing half the remaining ice cubes.
Remove basil leaves from ice bowl and dry them on a kitchen towel.
(its ok to squeeze them in the towel - they will look limp and tired - no problem)
Keep squeezing until they are dry.
Dump basil leaves into blender. Pour in warm olive oil.
Blend until the oil turns green.
Pour basil oil through a fine mesh sieve covered with a kitchen cloth.
Let oil drain through towel + sieve. Keep basil oil and store!

Useful tips: Dont leave the boiling water in the basil leaves for too long. If too long, leaves will turn black. blanching it will allow the leaves to release their flavour. Dumping it in cold water allows you to refresh the leaves.

I have tasted this oil, and it tastes really strongly of basil! it's fantastic!

Temper of the chef
Yesterday, i also witnessed Billy Idol losing his temper. He seems like such an upbeat good natured guy, but boy - can he look PISSED when the occassion arises.
2 incidences- a customer had asked for Tuna Medium rare- he had cooked it well done. The Tuna came back with a stern remark from the waitress 'Chef. Read your orders properly next time. I had stated Medium rare'.
Billy Idol threw a bowl into the sink with a loud clash -and clenched his jaw. I think this was his mistake. And if he was pissed, he was probably pissed with himself, but boy, you really did feel like a dark thunderous cloud had fallen over the kitchen. Spilling over with blonde rage, eyes looking crazy angry, he fixed the tuna. The kitchen fell into a hushed silence. The Tuna was sent back out.

Second occurence - a customer had asked for Cod with no miso. This cod was sent to the wrong person (waiter's fault). Waitress came back to whisper the problem to Billy Idol. After he realised he had no more cod left -, he slammed his hand on the steel surface of the plating section, said a whole string of swear words in French and put on the blackest angriest face i had ever seen (apart from the ones i've seen on my dad!). The waiter who had made the mistake came in, he stared at him and said to the waitress- can you please show him were seat 7 is !!

So there you go - the Chef has some characteristics of what chef's are meant to be like after all! (fits of rage! passionate outburts! combustible anger when things do turn out). Im still a die hard fan of his though. At least it is clear he strives for perfection and the eagerness to please his customers.

And it is also clear his staff are eager to please him.

One of the new chefs in the kitchen (graduated straight from Cordon Bleu in Paris) presented to him a ravioli dish. I expect this was his little 'innovation'.

Billy Idol tried it, mused over it for a second, then said '3 things':
One. Creativity - i give you zero.
Two. Lobster Ravioli is not very original
Three. However - I like the flavour of the bisque. The flavour is good. (he tries it again) - i like it a lot. We can use this flavour combination.

Throughout this time, his staff have all stopped their work to listen to what he had to say.

It is clear that his opinion is valued and his compliments cherished. The new chef looked pleased. Ultimately, Billy Idol had ended his 'review' on a positive note.

Buckwheat Cakes
One of the chefs (sweet French guy) had these mini brown muffin shaped things sitting on his side of the kitchen. I stared at it (and prodded it when i thought he wasn't looking). He saw and asked me to try it.
It was sweet - a hybrid between cake and bread. He said it was real easy and sliced out a piece into several piees and left it on the counter, saying to everyone in the kitchen 'Dont touch. This is for Chef. Don't eat!' (another proof that the staff are very eager to please Billy Idol).

Sweet French chef starting writing down the recipe on a piece of paper and presented it to me (i had not even asked for it!)

recipe

here it is! (coincidentally, i have 2 packets of buckwheat flour in my pantry - a gift that my luvvie had carted back from Australia on his last visit - along with the cherished Kitchenaid. I had thought about making buckwheat pancakes with them, but i think this might be the better option!)

Buckwheat Cake Recipe
125g Buckwheat flour
220g Caster Sugar
2 tblspoon yeast (dried)
1 pinch salt

Dry mix all above ingredients.

In a mixer, add 3 eggs and 10 cl of sunflower oil.
Mix till the mixture changes colour.

Place in 160 degree oven for 35- 45 mins.

It looks terribly simple, but if his memory is so good, i'll certainly put my faith in it and give it a try. Besides, Buckwheat is gluten free - so no guilt! (well, apart from the sugar and eggs and oil!)

I actually have a lot more to say, but i think this might be boring most to death.

Last words:
Foie Gras terrine (stuffed with dried figs) tastes so creamy it's like eating pure butter! i was happily enjoying my handout from one of the chefs until he said 'it's very fattening. Foie gras is 90% fat.'

gee thanks.

Devilish Chocolate cupcakes

2005-08-22T06:01:00.000-07:00

devil's cupcakes!

These were made for a friend's 30 something birthday- my friend Mik who LOVES chocolate and stares at anything i make with chocolate in it with huge goggle eyes. When i make anything without chocolate, he stares at me accusingly and huffs 'Where's the chocolate?"
So it was without question, that my birthday creation for him would have to have chocolate in it. I had initially wanted to make him a killer choc mousse cake that i had recently seen in 101cookbooks.com - but with my newfound obssession with cupcakes, having only made one batch (see Cupcakes posting!) and with some friends requesting for more, it was a natural choice - Chocolate cupcakes!

I found this recipe from a blog i had discovered called www.chockylit.blogspot.com
For anyone who has a penchant for cupcakes - this lady makes the most BEAUTIFUL ones. All fancy and dressed up and fit for royalty. She has some fantastic pictures of cupcakes that are enough to get one on the roll! I highly recommend all to visit her blog for cupcake inspiration of the most divine kind.

I would say the chocolate cupcake itself was nothing out of the ordinary (v simple to make too!) but it was the icing that really made the kill. In combination, it hit the spot. And with my rainbow coloured sprinkles, it looked like kiddy party treats - perfect for a bunch of 30somethings who were children at heart really!

close up

Below is the recipe (taken from www.chockylit.blogspot.com)

Devil's Food Chocolate Cake
makes 24 cupcakes / 350 degree oven

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1-1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Measure out everything but the eggs directly into your mixer bowl.
2. Mix on low speed just until incorporated.
3. Beat on high speed for 2 minutes.
4. Add eggs, beat on high speed again for 2 minutes.

Measure out into cupcake pan lined with cupcake papers. A 2" ice cream scoop works great for this. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool slightly in the pan then transfer to a rack to cool completely before frosting.

Chocolate Buttercream
enough to lightly frost 24 cupcakes

1 stick butter
1/2 cup cocoa
4 cups confectioner's sugar
~1/4 cup milk

1. Beat butter on high for about 30 seconds until soft.
2. Add cocoa and 1 cup of sugar and beat until incorporated
3. Add half of the milk and the remainder of sugar and beat until incorporated.
4. Continue to add milk until you get to the consistency you want.

the 'grown up version'

A 'Group Trip' to Tekka Market

2005-08-16T09:22:00.001-07:00

It was a Sunday morning and we were all seated in front of a hawker stall at 10am looking sleepy over our cups of hot tea. 10am on a Sunday for us partying urbanites is early. REAL early. 7 of us had decided to gather at Tekka Market, my favourite market in Singapore (not that i have been to that many mind you). I have raved about this market before. It's like a disneyland for food lovers. The tomatoes are a bright cherry red, the greens look like they've been plucked from a farm nearby and the herbs come in wonderful fresh big bunches (a complete contrast to the limp plastic packets you find in Cold Storage at double the price). Some of the seafood are still leaping about in their steel containers, seemingly fresh out of their once cosy 'water beds'.

We were all here to shop for a Sunday dinner at a friend Mik's place that was to be his official 'house warming' cum Pictionary night. It all started out innocently enough when i walked into his new home and blurted out 'Oh what a great kitchen! it opens out to your dining room! that's fantastic! Let me cook here sometime. We can get a small group together, buy the ingredients together and I'll cook'!
Mik was very quick to jump on this offer, but dinner for 6 turned out to be dinner for 15, at which point we decided it was going to have to be 'buffet' style, requiring a few pairs of hands for the grocery shopping.

My friend Steph and I have been here several times now, (but this time, we had 5 more friends in tow!) so we were the 'market veterans' leading the troupe! We proceeded straight to our favourite vegetable seller (unfortunately i dont have a picture of him! His name is Desmond). A man who lets us leave all our purchases at his stall whilst we move on to the meat and fish sections. He's also the man-of-the-house who has the bunches of rosemary, dill, Italian Basil and Flat leaf Parsley - in fresh 'oh it smells so good' bunches. We bought a whole variety of vegetables from him (planned for our dinner) with me snapping up some vine ripened cherry tomatoes for myself (i had tried it at Saint Pierre a few weeks back and they tasted sublime!)

A vegetarian friend Leslie went crazy buying out a bunch of Free range eggs (in NORMAL sizes, as opposed to the mini sizes you get at supermarkets). I had to stop myself from buying the fresh aragula (i so desperately wanted them, but really could not think of a time within its short shelf life to eat it!).

friendly cod man
This is the friendly cod man. They sell it frozen (all cod coming into Singapore is frozen), at half the price of other 'butchers' i have enquired with. You can get him to slice it at the width specification you want. He smiled patiently as we 'hmm'd and hummm'd' to whether we should buy 4 or 6 pieces. Steph bought up 6 pieces, and i have been badgering her about wanting to come over for dinner ever since!

fish at tekka

A sample of some of the fresh 'just out of the sea' fish displayed in stacks for purchase. We ended up buying 15 King prawns (at about $1.20 each - but they were really HUGE) and some squid for a seafood dish we were planning to make.

Leslie our vegetarian friend was pescitarian until she discovered diving. So im not sure how she felt about the near dead fish seemingly gasping their last breath!

the butcher!

The butcher here (we've bought from him twice now - the last time was the ox tail)sells just about everything from the happy cows from all over the world (Tenderloin from Brazil, Sirloin from Australia, ox tail from New Zealand). It was like the United Nations of Cows - in their afterlife. The only thing he didn't seem to have was veal bones. (i wanted to buy this to make Veal stock for a more indsutrious cooking adventure.)
We were planning to make a beef roast, and he quickly recommended that sirloin was the best cut for this. We bought up 2kg and we were on our way!

I have to say we were very efficient about this. We had a shopping list, we had a menu planned. The rest of it was just to unload at Mik's place, and meet later at 4:30pm to start the preparations!

The Dinner Buffet aka Feast fit for the famous

2005-08-16T09:20:00.001-07:00

So after our market excursion (with me blinding my favourite market sellers momentarily with my flashing camera - like mad market frenzied tourist), we re-grouped at 4:30 at Mik's place to start the preparations.
i had spent a good portion of the previous Friday night discussing the menu with another cooking enthusiast friend - Eugene. With so many people to cook for, we knew we didn't want to cook anything that was too time consuming or difficult. We wanted variety and ease without comprimising on taste, plus we needed to juggle the logistics since we knew we only had one oven and one grill. Not forgetting catering to the meat lovers, the vegetarians and the sweet toothed!

The Great Big Menu
We finally decided on the following:

Starters
Bacon wrapped Enoki mushrooms (we decided this was a breeze to make - only requiring short grill cooking time)
Assorted Crostinis (this is something i've made before. Pretty easy to prepare and always fun for guests to nibble on before dinner. Also a vegetarian option.)
Prawn and squid cooked with lemongrass, chili and garlic sauce. (not much cooking time required, cooked on the hob - great with bread).

We were happy with this choice. Each of the starters offered a variety of flavours, not too heavy to kill the appetite for mains and easy enough to cook without breaking into too much of a sweat!

(We had vetoed ideas like baked baby potatoes with blue cheese topping - blue cheese expensive, and not always agreeable to everyone )

Mains
After another round of debate, we agreed on the following:

Roast Beef (This was Steph's idea. She wanted to try a roast beef recipe that she had seen in one of her cooking mags. At first we were going to opt instead for a honey glazed roast pork that Eugene had insisted was really easy and cheaper than beef, then finding out this required a BBQ grill, we reverted back to initial option of a roast beef)
Roasted Vegetables (veg and beef could go into the oven at the same time, simply chop, season, add some olive oil and roast!)
Pasta (a simple spaghetti and tomato dish as the carb option - I decided it was important that this didn't clash with the star dish of the night- the beef! and hence needed a v simple pasta recipe)
Mixed Salad - for the vegetarians and an option to accompany the big beef dish. Steph immediately said she would take care of this - her famous avocado, pineapple with lettuce and a sweet vinagierette salad.

We had wanted a fish dish (thinking a salt crusted baked salmon would have been beautiful - but none of us knew where to get a big bag of rock sea salt!) we couldn't think of other 'big fish' centrepiece dishes that would have complemented everything else, so the fish idea was scrapped.
Steph had initially thought of a chicken green curry dish (easy to make, can be made in advance) but we vetoed that idea eventually given that it didn't quite go with the other western options on the menu.

The Dessert
Apple Crumble

This was a pretty simple choice. My friend Audrey had been wanting to make it for a while, I wanted us to make it together, it was easy to prepare, not too heavy after such a big meal - perfect.

roasted veg

These were the roasted vegetables before they went into the oven. We had yellow and red capsicums, aubergines, courgettes, and mushrooms. Seasoned with thyme, basil, salt, pepper and a big dash of olive oil.
We had a slight problem with this dish. After a good hour in the oven, it came out looking soggy, sweating away in a pool of its own watery liquid. We figured this could have been a result of one of two problems:
1) We didn't sweat the aubergines long enough (i think we only sweated it for like 10 mins, when it should rightfully be 30 mins)
2) We added a whole bunch of veggies that tend to be watery in nature (although i don't think this is it).

We drained some of the water, added more oil and salt and baked it some more. It tasted fine, but not as flavourful as it should have been i think!

testing temperature!

We learned some important lessons with the roast beef.
1) Roast beef is really easy to make! Simply season with salt and pepper a few hours before hand. Stick in oven for over 1 hour.
2) As you can see from the pic above, we were trying to test whether it was done or not. I had brought along my meat thermometer (i had bought this to measure the temp of water for my bread baking expeditions) and stuck it into the centre of the sirlion. The temperature rose to 50 degrees celcius.
We all stared at each other wondering aloud the significance of this number. Eugene and I looked at each other and said '50 degrees seems really hot doesn't it?' Audrey looked at it quizzically and said, 'i think it's ready. It looks ready!'
Steph rummaged frantically through her beef recipe and said 'found it! 50 degrees is rare!'
Audrey said 'It's done! its done! Rare is good!' (she's the one that eats her beef almost alive). I agreed, not wanting to overcook the beef and figuring that letting it sit would allow it to cook some more on the inside. We all agreed those who wanted it medium could eat the outside bits.

And that was all there was to it! Season, stick in oven for about 80 mins. and voila! A rare perfectly cooked Sirloin!

Roast beef!

2005-08-16T08:30:00.000-07:00

the feast!

2005-08-16T08:29:00.001-07:00

prawns

crostini

spread

Cupcakes!

2005-08-16T08:28:00.001-07:00

vanilla cupcakes

On Sunday afternoon, i developed a dying need to make Cupcakes. I'd been wanting to ever since i watched an episode of sex in the city where Carrie Bradshaw bit into a scrumptious looking cupcake topped with a big tower of pink icing (it looks especially good when you see skinny women in high Manolo's and tight dresses bite into something that makes most people look like tubs of lard. But hey! its TV!)

I had been to the 'baker who cook's' site where she had made some vanilla cupcakes that looked yummy. She had taken the recipe from Food Network, so that's what I did! (Recipe posted below).

I wanted to make these and whisk them over to a friend's place where 4 of us were gathering at 4:30pm in the kitchen to prepare for a huge buffet dinner for 15 people and thought we could all chomp on it as we worked away at the chopping board.

I added some peach dye that i had bought a while back. These dye's are potent! Just a small little drop is enough to colour an entire huge bowl of icing. It would have been nice to sprinkle some multicoloured watchamacallits (you know what i mean) on top of these, but thats for another time!

I also need to figure out how to put on the icing in a more presentable manner. I have yet to figure out how to use the piping bag with the different cone attachments. As you can see in this picture, its not all that impressive, but believe me - the reception to it was great. The 'chef's' for the night (and even those who weren't! appreciatively gobbled them up).

This cupcake recipe for me is perfect. Simple butter cake that tastes great even on its own - plus the icing adds just the right degree of sweetness.
They look so cute, and there are so many variations to the toppings that they really make for eye candy. Something that's cheery enough to make even the most reluctant of us, smile.

I am telling you, I am on a new mission. As a friend has been saying to me for a while now, Cupcakes are the new muffin.

And you're gonna see a lot more postings on cupcakes soon!

Vanilla Cupcakes
Yield: 12

Ingredients:
2 cups sifted cake-and-pastry flour
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup milk
2 x eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Vanilla Buttercream Icing

1 cup butter, softened
5 cups sifted icing sugar
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Vanilla Cupcakes
In large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Using electric mixer on low speed, mix in butter, milk, eggs and vanilla; beat on high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes.

Spoon into 12 paper-lined or greased muffin cups, filling about three-quarters full. Bake in centre of 375°F (190°C) oven until cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean, about 18 minutes. Transfer to rack; let cool completely. (Make-ahead: Store in airtight container for up to 1 day or freeze for up to 2 weeks.) Variation: Chocolate Cupcakes - Reduce flour to 1 cup and baking powder to 1/2 tsp. Add 1/2 cup cocoa powder and 1 tsp baking soda to dry ingredients. Sift before adding butter and wet ingredients.

Vanilla Buttercream Icing
In large bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy. Alternately beat in sugar and cream, making 2 additions of sugar. Beat in vanilla. (Make-ahead: Refrigerate in airtight container for up to 24 hours; let come to room temperature, about 1 hour. Beat slightly before using.) Makes about 3 2/3 cups, enough for 12 cupcakes.

A weekend food fiesta

2005-08-14T18:34:00.000-07:00

i have eaten so much this weekend i feel like i need my stomach pumped.
Firstly, there was this fantastic Birthday BBQ at my girl friend's place on Saturday. It was a potluck and everyone brought their little contribution to the table.

friands

Friands for The Birthday BBQ
I of course had volunteered to bring dessert, and the birthday girl (my yoga buddy) had requested for friands - something i had never made before. In short, friands are like mini muffins - except that they don't contain egg yolk (only whites) and have an important ingredient- almond meal. I was later told by another Australian girl (they seem to be very common in Australia) that they have special friand moulds which are oval in shape (i had baked mine in a round mini muffin tin instead).

The ones i made were White chocolate friands that i had coincidentally found in a friend's old gossip magazine (they include the token recipe for the domestic gossip goddess in you!). It involved a shockingly large amount of icing sugar (and a strangely small amount of flour), grated white chocolate ( i bought a big block of Cadbury's) and a generous slathering of white chocolate icing (the recipe called for heavy cream melted with white chocolate, but i didn't have cream, so i just made do with melting white chocolate in the microwave, which still turned out fine!Tip: don't think you can melt chocolate directly in a pan over heat. It starts to burn!)

The recipe only made 9 friands (the recipe said it would make 13!) so i didn't get the chance to try it (there were at least 15 people at the BBQ) and as a result, everyone seemed to be keeping an eye on a piece of this mysterious white chocolate coated treat throughout the afternoon, with many grabbing one even before they were finished with their mains. The appreciative 'Mmmms' as people took their bites were enough for me.

And the ultimate icing on the cake was when one of the guys there took a bite and said 'God Bless You' with a smile. I am not religious and he is not a priest, but it was enough. Who needs to try a home made friand when you get appreciation like that!

I'll post the recipe and pic in a sec!

An original salad

I tried a delicious salad at the BBQ that i want to write down before i forget
It had the perfect combination of crispy and crunchy, sweet and tangy. It was gorgeous:

Ingredients:
White Cabbage, thinly sliced
Crispy egg noodle, crushed (the dark mustardy yellow type you find in a circular shape)
Spring Onions, chopped
Sunflower seeds
Pine nuts

Dressing:
Soya Sauce
Olive Oil
Sugar
Finely chopped shallots

(I think that was it! he had told me verbally as i was chomping away)
Combine all ingredients -EAT!

Almond Biscotti

2005-08-09T09:18:00.000-07:00

biscotti

I've been wanting to make biscotti for a long time. For me, it sits in the category of 'fancy biscuits' - fancy because you don't normally get to buy it off the supermarket shelves and because it's normallly available at coffee outlets like Starbucks and Coffee bean (at $2 for a stingy little stick!)

I have 2 books with biscotti recipes - Great Cookies by Carole Walters and Baking with Julia (using it yet again!). THe ones featured by Carole Walters required a few more ingredients that i didn't have, so i opted for the simpler recipe, which were hazelnut biscotti (featured in Baking with Julia) - except i substitued the hazelnut with almonds.

The results
It was quite a breeze to make this. Minimal mess, no butter needed and not much preparation time required. The end result was good, although i probably would have preferred a version with some raisins / dried fruit in it (or chocolate!).
Biscotti I suppose is a fairly dry biscuit, and pretty hard in texture. It's good dipped in coffee (to soften it up a bit for those of us with less than hardy teeth) - and i suppose that's a good reason why biscotti is often only found at coffee outlets!
i wouldn't say it's 'moorish', nor am i confident that all too many people would go crazy over it.
Still, it was a great afternoon for some solitude, sipping coffee with a home made biscotti in front of the tv watching Carrie Bradshaw wax lyrical about life love and men!

Anyway, i'll post the recipe shortly!

Another Sunday delivery

2005-08-09T09:17:00.001-07:00

lemon poppy seed muffins
Ever since i complained aloud to some friends about the unavailability of poppy seeds in Singapore, i have had the good fortune of having friends cart back a few bottles for me on their travels. I had 2 more bottles sitting in my cupboard and 2 lemons sitting lonesome in my fridge. So what better combination than to create lemon poppy seed muffins for my weekend muffin delivery.

Except that this time, i used the Lemon poppy seed CAKE recipe taken from the CAke Bible (from Epicurious.com) instead of the Lemon Poppy seed muffin recipe i have from my muffin book. This recipe has already been highlighted in my previous post on poppy seeds.

I modified it slightly with a lemon icing glaze. I loved it. Although i'm still not sure people of Singapore are as keen on poppy seeds as they are on chocolate!

Saturday brunch

2005-08-09T09:17:00.000-07:00

Cheese sandwich

I know this probably doesn't look all that good to you. But believe me, it's a little lunch that completely hits the spot. This was a modified idea from one of the first cookbook purchases I had ever made called the Zingermann's Guide to Good Eating. I have found it completely educational on the beauty of good basic ingredients from salt to pepper to chocolate to cheese, covering everything from it's history and origins to the different varieties available.

This is an indulgent sandwich - indulgent because there's cheese (extra mature cheddar cheese is a big bonus), egg and butter - and not necessarily in stingy amounts either. But that's exactly why it hits the spot! Not to mention i had some of my whole wheat bread leftover and it was DELICIOUS toasted. So do try it someday!

Recipe:

Toast whole wheat bread (white bread is fine too).
Whisk 2 eggs, add in a pinch of salt.
Dip bread in egg mixture.
Heat a non stick pan, add some butter.
Place one piece of bread on pan. Place sliced extra mature cheddar cheese on top of bread. cover with the other piece of bread (creating a sandwich)
Leave for about 1 minute. Flip bread over and cook the other side.
Remove from pan when you see the cheese starting to melt.

Drizzle sandwich with generous amount of honey.

Eat immediately!

Third session at the French Kitchen

2005-08-03T09:23:00.000-07:00

So this time i spent Tuesday night helping out (well, trying not to get in the way) of the wonderful hustle and boisterous bustle of the kitchen. I was greeted with big smiles,which is just simply wonderful. It is often more than i can say for what greets me in my day job! And so a simple beaming smile can win me over. (I am easy to please obviously)

Tuesday night meant a busier night at the restaurant (busier than Monday's anyway) and I had billy idol in the kitchen most times overseeing the crew.

This time, i walked into gospel music blasting on the radio. i looked around to see whether the chefs had changed - but nope , still the same zany bunch. The gospel soon moved on to R&B, which soon moved on Rap - so i knew i was back on familiar ground.

So what did i do this time?
1) I cut chervil into small little leaves (for the garnishing) - watched them soak it in iced water to maintain the freshness

2) I watched one of the chefs make a salad dressing that consisted of throwing 2 shallots, 2 cloves of garlic, some sugar, salt, about 5 almonds, a generous portion of balsamic vinegar and olive oil into a blender - blend it all together. He let me try a taste of it which tasted simply gorgeous. I'm writing it down before i forget. I will certainly try it this weekend.

3) I put a watermelon through a meat slicer, (emptied through the middle so that they sliced into thin watermelon 'rings'). Billy Idol took pity on me looking so useless, hopping gingerly from one foot to the other looking overly eager I'm sure. He asked me to 'do zees' (as he demonstrated the slicer ) - i caught a look of horror cross the pastry chef's face (like she was thinking this was not a job for the novice). but hey I managed!

4) I shaped the watermelon slices into a rose - coiled, layer upon thin layer to form a multi 'petalled' centrepiece - this was the most interesting and fulfilling job for the night!. It really looked like quite a tough little job to be given to me, but Billy idol was kind enough to pretend he had the confidencec in me to try it. And i managed! i was so proud i wanted to point and yell loudly to everyone 'isn't this beautiful? praise and acknowledgement please'! Perhaps there were a few passing looks of approval verging on nonchalance!

So everytime an order came in for watermelon and salmon (it's a starter) - that was my job!

5) I learned how to swoop a squeeze bottle around a round plate to line the inside circle of the plate with yellow sauce (for pure decorational purposes!)
Billy idol would show me how to do it once, then ask me to try. I would try one, make an unsightly mess of it (you would think it'd be a piece of cake, but it's not! Takes a sure hand and some practise), and he would say 'Try another plate. We have lots of plates'. And i would have to pass the plate to the dishwasher, apologizing to him profusely for having to wash it for no good reason at all (apart from my beginner's incompetence). I would finally get one done that got his approval, and i would then be on my way to placing my watermelon flower ornament on my decorated plate.

6) I learned what a 'sweetbread' was. The real food connoiseurs amongst you might be rolling your eyes thinking 'how could you not know this'. Honestly, i thought it was, literally, a 'sweet bread' (and i was wondering why it was the night's special)!
The souz chef disappeared around the corner of the kitchen, returning to show me what it looked like (Raw). Basically, it's a gland in the throat area of an animal like cow, calf, lamb and considered a delicacy. But by appearance alone, it looks like a small organ of sorts, white, wobbling slightly on the tray. not very appetising i have to say! (but then, none of these 'delicacies' usually look all that great)

Billy idol offered me a generous portion after it had been seared on the pan (with a lot of butter I suspect). I took a big bite, with Billy Idol looking on expectantly with pride i felt obliged to say 'hmmm.' (and other enthusiastic yet non committal sounds like that). He said 'taste sweet yes?' to which i replied, well... 'milky' (i'd obviously said the right thing because he nodded enthusiastically and said 'yes, yes!' and i added 'tastes a bit like liver too' and he said'yes yes! becauses it's an organ..'

And hence was my initiation to sweetbread.

7) i tasted organic red grapefruit for the first time. Cold, a juicy explosion of chilled pulp and juice, sweet with a tang of bitterness. Gorgeous as i sucked it's flesh off the skin and let the juices drip down my wrist in all it's pure glory.

The kitchen staff were in good spirits this time - a mad zany bunch where at one point, one of them started moo-ing from his corner, followed by another joining in, and soon i was surrounded by a bunch of guys making 'moo-ing' noises! (i have no idea why!)

I'm looking forward to next week!

Whole Wheat Bread

2005-08-01T07:55:00.002-07:00

2 loaves!

Some people go to church on Sundays. Some go roller blading. Some have long brunches over champagne (the posh ones!)
I wake up and make my entire Sunday into a day of baking. Somewhere in this twenty something year old body (closer to 30 than 20 mind you), i have evolved from hungover on Sunday to a Sunday baking maniac.

i fear that i am evolving faster than I had imagined. I just hope this party chic hasn't hung up her dancing shoes for an apron for good just yet. I'm starting to wonder if listening to 'intelligent dance music' and dancing to it in the kitchen counts as striking a middle ground?

anyway - back to this Sunday. I decided that i was going to dive into my Baking with Julia cookbook (this purchase is turning out to be really excellent value for money). As i was flipping through it, contemplating the ingredients i had on hand, the time i was going to have to juggle for whatever choice i was going to make, who i was going to give the baked results to, i ended up settling on Whole Wheat bread - a good handy loaf to have on hand over the new few days - good breakfast and sanwich fare, and not particularly complicated.

(halfway through the first rise, i decided i might as well make a bigger mess of my kitchen by embarking on the sticky bun recipe - posting below)

You might have read in an earlier posting about my white bread adventure(from the same book). I have to say I prefer that to how this one tastes. Maybe because this is essentially healthier, and much as I try, i have not re-trained my palate to appreciate whole wheat breads better than the less healthy alternative.

The recipe called for 1 tablespoon of malt extract, which I didn't have, so I left that out altogether (i'm not sure what effect this might have had on the end result). But otherwise, they came out of the oven looking golden brown and wholesome-ly glorious. I had 1 slice with butter, another slice with butter AND honey. A 3rd slice with peanut butter and honey. And a final slice with cheese, tomato and honey. At which point i was officially quite repulsed at my impulsive act of gluttony.

But can you blame a girl who simply can't resist her own sweat filled creations on a Sunday afternoon?

2005-08-01T07:55:00.000-07:00

Whole Wheat bread

Sticky buns without the Pecan

2005-08-01T02:24:00.000-07:00

sticky bun

I actually bought the book 'Baking with Julia' BECAUSE of the recipe in the book for sticky pecan buns.
I had made two attempts at Cinammon buns and had been disappointed with the texture of the bread, which had turned out hard and not as 'fluffy' as I'd liked.
I had suspected that adding more butter would have been the secret magic ingredient. Little did i know how much butter this recipe actually called for!

brioche dough

Brioche
This recipe firstly called for a Brioche dough to be made. The pic above is the brioche dough after 2 hours of 'rising' time. It almost looks like a bubbling frothing monster from 'butter' land doesn't it?

Brioche is a light but RICH French bread made with eggs and butter. The crumb is supposed to be delicate and pale yellow in colour. ( i haven't yet tried Brioche because whilst i made the dough, it was soon turned into a sticky bun - which involved adding in a lot more butter / sugar/ cinammon/ rolling and folding etc etc)

Interesting trivia - Marie Antoinette's famous phrase 'Let them eat cake' as callous advise to starving peasants before the French Revolution, was actually a MIS-translation of what was actually reported in French, which was "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche" -'Let them eat brioche.'

Scary to think how you could be mis-transalated in your death.

A whole ten and a half hours
I'm not kidding - i have not made anything else in MY LIFE that took so long.
I started at 2pm - i put the dough into the oven at midnight.
You're probably thinking i fell asleep somewhere in between.
Nope. Followed the recipe word for word.

There was a lot of waiting time - i have to admit. But making something like this takes a commitment of an entire day - just WAITING for it to be ready.

Let me break it down for you.
2pm. Prepare a sponge. Wait for 30 mins.
2:30pm Start adding flour/ eggs / sugar etc to sponge. Start mixing.
Add butter, one table spoon at a time - continue mixing for another 30 mins.
3pm - let brioche dough rise for 2 hours.
5pm - deflate dough. place in fridge for 4 hours.
9pm - take dough out of fridge. roll out, put on more butter, fold fold, wrap and place in fridge again for another 30 mins.
9:45pm - take out of fridge. Roll out again. brush with egg - sprinkle on follings, fold again, roll into log. place in freezer for 1 hour.
11pm - take out from freezer - slice, place in cake pan. (and just when you think it can FINALLY go into the oven, recipe says... WAIT 2 HOURS FOR rolls to expand in
cake pan.

I couldn't believe it.

And to top it off, recipe ended with 'once removed from oven, cool on rack. Do not eat immediately as sugar from oven can be scalding.' (something along those lines) but all i remember thinking was - AFTER ALL THAT, YOU'RE TELLING ME I CAN'T EAT IT RIGHT AWAY? Damn.

Soft soft bun
Don't mind my bitching. Having said all that - the bun texture (and yes, i pretty much snatched an impatient bite of it straight out of the oven) was soft and fluffy with a hint of buttery crumb (oh, so well disguised despite the truck loads of butter that went into it!! I am almost tempted to say i will never buy another cinammon bun again from a shop -EVER. but i know i would be lying. deep down under my ever expanding waist line).

I didn't have any pecans, so i subsituted mine with sliced almonds - i'm sure it tastes better with pecans though. And whilst this wasn't a recipe for cinammon buns, i know i could probably just pile on the cinammon, and it would be perfect.

This time, i brought it to work the next morning and my colleagues all nodded their heads in approval, making lots of appropriate lip smacking sounds.

Would I make this again?
For the results - yes. But for the time and trauma of having to handle so much butter.... i don't know. Give me some time to get over it.
Lucky i have another log sitting in my freezer!

Second session at the French kitchen

2005-07-25T07:48:00.000-07:00

Back from my second session at the restaurant tonight. It was a quiet night with only 3 reservations, but we ended up with a restaurant of 20 pax (quiet night even for a Monday apparently)
I walked in and received some smiles of recognition and to my horror - Celine Dion playing on the stereo! (if you recall, last week was hard rock and this week - song after song of weepy Celine! (i'm not a fan)
I was just about to think the kitchen staff had the temperament of schizophrenics when the souz chef started making faces at R, the french chef obviously responsible for the music, asking him to turn it off. (phew - there are some consistencies I can at least rely on). After much boisterous teasing about R feeling sentimental, going home alone every night, he finally changed his music choice to a 'cafe del mar' type CD. Still in extreme contrast to last week - but better nevertheless!

So let's see - what did I learn tonight?
1) That cold Japanese tomato with Fleur de Sel tastes like pure heaven
(Fleur De Sel is 'cream of the crop' salt that is harvested by hand off the village of Guerande in brittany in July and August, when the sea is calm and the weather conditions are right. It's super super expensive - a small little pack (that looked like 100 g costs apparently $14). I had a taste of it and found that it lacks the bite and 'saltiness' of normal salt. The souz chef puts a pinch of it in his aquarium every few days for his 1 beloved pirhanha!

Japanese Tomato (apparently imported from Tokyo) costs $3 per tomato. I was shocked! I had also tasted nothing like it. Billy Idol let me try a bite after i had asked one question after another about what it tasted like, he sliced me half a tomato, and sprinkled on some fleur de sel. It was mind blowing! It looked like such a plain little starter and something i would have HATED having just because it looked like such poor value for money, but i was so SO wrong.

2) Chives should be sliced in a fast slicing motion (instead of pressed on with a knife when cutting it) to retain their 'freshness'. If you press on them, they become mushy because you have crushed their structure.

3) A dash of Vinegar is drizzled on the sauce for fatty fish like cod and salmon because some acidity is needed to break up the 'fat' of the fish. Lean fish like Seabass don't require this acidity.

4) Basil Oil adds lovely colour to a dish (comes out as a flourescent green oil on the plate)

5) Herbs can be kept fresh after being cut in iced water.

6) Chervil is used as garnishing for almost all dishes.

7) Their amazing raisin walnut bread requires imported organic unbleached flour.

8) A simple 'tool' like a round metal ring (about 2 inches high) can be used for making a 'stack of salad', well contained in the centre of the plate.

9) Squeeze bottles with long thin nozzles are ESSENTIAL for the 'fine art' of plate decor.

10)Black cod with miso paste, chopped mango, onion and tomato makes for a lovely dish (oven baked)

11) So MUCH of fine dining is in the art of 'plating' and presentation. The essence here seems to be good ingredients, simplicity, and taking pains to 'present' it in the best way possible.

12) Balsamic glaze requires balsamic vinegar with some icing sugar (v handy for plate decor - a few fast streaks across the plate does wonders!)

I'm less nervous around the kitchen staff now. I ventured into the pastry section this time. This took a bit of courage because this domain belongs to the only other female in this kitchen who talks brash, blunt and someone you really don't want to get on the wrong side of. I suspect this is what is needed in the kitchen if female. A lady who can weather the most testerone charged of environments. Surprisingly, she was very welcoming, answered all my nosy questions in good humour. I noticed that she had large callouses and cuts on her hand, to which she said 'I'm allergic to flour'. Needless to say, I didn't think she was the sunniest of personalities and no wonder. A pastry / dessert / bread chef who's allerfic to flour!

I didn't do much tonight, but I am certainly learning. Slowly but surely. I wrapped up the night with my last task for the night- wrapping cling film over the steel containers of gravy.

The virtues of cooking

2005-07-25T02:06:00.000-07:00

I was a piggy all weekend. I went home to see my parents (in KL) and had a variety of different foods ranging from wood fire pizza to chocolate molten cake to durian, mangosteens and rambutans to king prawn noodles to pork chops to vietnamese set lunch, to Penang hawker food. And i did no cooking and much to my dismay, forgot my camera and have only a bloated belly to prove my weekend indulgence (again! again!)

So my post for today is to share something i read in 'Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone' by Deborah Madison:

'Why Cook'?

'Practically speaking, if you're concerned about the quality of the food you eat, cooking should be of vital importance for it's the only way you can really know what you're eating. If money is a consideration, your home cooked food will cost less than eating out or buying packaged food. There's also satisfaction in taking responsibility for what we eat instead of turning it over to others. Further, cooking a meal produces immediate results, unlike many of our jobs. After a long day of routine work, many people find the creative act of cooking a relaxing change of pace that restores their energy. It's a gift to be able to cook for others - and it's wonderful to be cooked for.'

I thought i'd post this because this really hits home.
So now that i'm back in the safe confines of my own kitchen, i'm back on the roll to share my next adventure!

My first 'kitchen internship'

2005-07-19T02:03:00.000-07:00

You might have read about my dinner date at Saint Pierre (post titled My Weekend of Indulgence) - a French restaurant in Singapore renowned for its fine French cuisine.
What i didn't mention was that i had asked the restaurant manager that night if they allowed people into their kitchen for internships. I was surprised at how open they were to the idea. She had asked me to email the owner/chef- Emmanuel Stroobant to propose the idea to him.

And so I did. After an email, a phone call and a chat, we agreed that I could come on Monday night to 'help out'. He warned me that 'you should know zat when you are ze guest, i divide myself into four to pleeze you, but when you are in my keetchen, you work for me and i am tough. In my keetchen, it's very hot and my cooks are like aneemals. it eez like a Zoo.'(imagine french accent, spoken at a fast pace).

Objective of doing this?
I went home and had to think very hard about what i wanted to get out of this 'expeerienze'. I really did not want to cop out after 1 session but I also needed to know what this was all for given that i have no aspirations of owning a restaurant. I concluded that:
1) I might learn some valuable lessons on cooking / plating/ baking / chopping / ingredients etc
2) I would have a really good understanding of what it's like in a kitchen of a fine dining restaurant. If not to put to use, then just to know. (Besides, it makes for good dinner conversation!)
3) It might just change my life. I had no idea in what way - but what did i get out of not committing to this? (apart from one more thing i'd be ignorant about?)

Monday Night in the Kitchen
And hence i found myself on a Monday evening, waiting nervously for Mr Stroobant himself at the restaurant reception area to meet me. i was a teeny bit worried about what i had signed myself up for when the alternative would have been comfort food in front of the tv. I will henceforth refer to him as Billy Idol. He really does remind me of a rock star. All spiky peroxide blonde hair, alert blue eyes, brimming over with energy such that he looks like he's ready to pounce on stage and PERFORM.

He looks at me, smiles and says 'you need a chef uniform?' i nodded thinking 'wow! chef uniform! i get to wear a real one!' and he comes back with a heavy black 2 piece that i put on in the toilet. Made from material that is thicker than winter curtains, i later learned that they are made from material that don't catch fire, protects you against spitting oil and boiling stock and any other kitchen mishaps.

The Kitchen
Billy Idol introduced me to the kitchen and his staff. There was the souz chef, a burly guy with a goatie. A thin gaunt looking french man overlooking the meat and fish section, another younger french man overlooking the vegetables and pan frying section, a chinese man overseeing the garnishings and 'fine art' of the dishes and the one lady in the kitchen that overlooked the pastries, desserts and breads. Finally, Billy Idol -the conductor overseeing his powerful quintet.

I walked into the kitchen to 'We will Rock You' blasting from a corner of the kitchen. The men all looked up, gave me polite smiles and Mathhiue (french man - young,kind face) gave me my first job. Putting salmon into a plastic bag and placing in vacuum pack machine to shrink wrap it. He showed me how - then i tried it myself and it didn't work.
The other french man overlooking the meat and fish section hurried over and did it for me, putting his finger to his lips (suggesting that i should not tell Mathhiue i could not even do such a simple task.)
Great, i thought. First job and i couldn't even get it right!

Other jobs for the night:-
Cleaning (de-bearding) European Mussels (i suspect this is a job someone hates because i was soon splattered with lots of sea mud and tried very hard not to scream when i saw a slug wiggling about amongst the mussels).
- Plucking the vines from a container full of cherry tomatoes from Sicily.
- Peeling potatoes and chopping them into square sticks.
- Slicing puff pastries into 2.
- Wiping down a kitchen counter that had been soaped.

A spot of bullying
I had just finished peeling five potatoes when Billy Idol came over to show me how to 'handle my knife' to slice an onion. As he was saying 'no, no, no - your finger here eez too close', Raphael (thin French man) dumped the peeled potatoes on my chopping board and yelled 'This is WRONG!! Like ZIS!!' and starts peeling away furiously at the potatoes, shaving away the little brown spots i had left on them.
Billy Idol gives me a look that sorta says 'you're in trouble' and quietly says i shouldn't leave any spots on them. As i'm apologetically peeling away at them again, Raphael marches over and starts chopping up a potato into square sticks and says 'cut like zis! now!' so i try my best to follow his instructions, but before long, he's marching over again yelling 'no! no! NO! WRONG! Zees! (he says holding up one of the sticks i had cut') is WRONG! SQUARE! not rectangular! like zees! (holding one that he had cut to demonstrate earlier) Do it right and do it NOW! (shouting)
i sort of see Billy idol looking down with a small smile, and i'm getting the idea that this is part and parcel of the 'initiation' of newbies and I take it all in good stride, head bent, trying REALLY really hard to cut regular square sticks.

Five minutes later Raphael yells again 'I want more potatoes! Quick quick QUICK! NOW NOW!', and i start scrambling to peel more when Billy Idol says 'there's only one order for fries. Stop. Enough'. A look up - look at both of them. Billy idol is smiling.

The potatoes go into the deep fryer and 15 minutes later, i'm handed a bowl with a few french fries and salt by Raphael (tormentor of potato episode) with a wink and a smile.

I think about Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential and note that perhaps Anthony's stories were not exaggerated after all!

The atmosphere in the kitchen is high energy, a pace that starts as a slow rumble, builds up to a crescendo with the men shouting at each other a lot (a lot of it in French - and they sure sound like expletives!), Billy Idol shouting out orders and getting a lot of 'yes CHEF's!' in reply, testosterone boiling over in bucketfulls.
Billy Idol is the epitomy of the alpha male, in his movements, his speech, his commanding presence, his energy. (can i just say - yummy?)

In summary, i ended the night feeling good. There was certainly a sense of family amongst the group (despite all the yelling and cursing), and when the desserts starting coming out, the music came back on with the guys nodding away and singing along. Billy idol offered me a glass of red wine and we all sat outside over a ciggie getting to know each other a little bit after the cleaning up had been done.

So this will be a weekly endavour - every Monday night at Saint Pierre. And i promise my next entry on this won't be so lengthy. I just wanted to describe everything i saw that night- it was all so new and interesting. And hopefully, given more time, i'll actually get to learn a few tricks or two (with a lot of yelling in my ear)

A week FULL of cooking

2005-07-17T02:01:00.000-07:00

pizza

Let's chart my cooking adventures for the week:

Tuesday: Home made pizza (Everything from scratch!)
Wed: 3 course dinner for 4 at my place which comprised of the following:
Starter
Crab Omellete
Edamame
Silken Tofu with grated ginger

Main
Baked Seabass infused with lemon grass and rice wine

Dessert
Warm Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream

Saturday: 4 course dinner for 6 at friend's place

I am totally cooked out. I actually walked past a shelve full of new cookbooks today at Borders and almost flinched at the thought of looking at another recipe for the rest of this week!
Good thing it's already Sunday. I'm sure the new cravings to try yet another new recipe will surface soon enough.

Pizza Night
I'm afraid this pic of the pizza looks quite horrendous. Something out of a bad horror full of teenagers and leftover cheap pizza. i almost feel like apologizing to the pizza for completely doing NO justice whatsoever to it's true and simple beauty. It was gorgeous. It totally hit the spot, and I MADE IT ALL FROM SCRATCH.

So you might have detected a smidgen of pride. I've been craving pizza for a while now. and armed with my new 'baking with Julia' cookbook, I was ready to try the pizza dough recipe as my second baking adventure from this book.
The pizza dough was made on a Monday whilst watching yet another few episodes of sex in the city (a newfound discovery for me - yes, i'm behind times,i know).
Dough is really not hard to make - it just takes some careful time planning - you basically need to sit around this bubbling bowl of dough for about 3 hours to see it to its completion. but the operative word here is 'sit around'. There's really nothing to it (especially with a robust little kitchenaid dough hook handy!)

I wrapped the fully risen dough in cling film and refrigerated it overnight, waiting with relish on Tuesday night to experiment with the toppings!

I made 2 different toppings (for 2 different pizza's). The first involved onion confit (recipe also found in Baking with Julia), topped with sliced tomatoes, gourmet pork sausages and a combination of parmesan, mozarella and cheddar cheese.
I had planned to bake this pizza on a terracota tile (the recipe had instrructed for a baking stone - what is a baking stone?) but alas have not managed to find one in Singapore (although truth is that i sent my boyfriend out to find it, and after visiting 2 tile shops, he surrendered proclaiming it was impossible to find!)

So i baked it on a baking tray, which turned out fine, although i'm sure baking it on a tile would have given the 'crisper' effect one normally craves from a wood fire pizza.

The second pizza had a pesto base, topped with sliced tomatoes, sausages, pineapple and the 3 cheeses. I would say I preferred the former combination, but overall - both were delicious, minimised no less by the satisfaction of having made my own pizza of bubbling cheesy heaven!

I'm looking forward to making it again because one can improvise with so many other combinations to come up with a new and interesting pizza! So I do recommend anyone who cares to try this, even if the pic I've posted isn't very appetising!

If anyone wants to know the recipe for pizza dough, let me know and i'll trek to my kitchen and post it.

Saturday Dinner for Six

2005-07-17T02:00:00.002-07:00

roasted veg tart

With my fellow cooking 'partner' Steph, we decided we would organise a dinner for 6 at her place. We had decided we were never going to do another 'Soul Cravings' dinner again (visit the site soulcravings.blogspot.com) - see under Links where we documented this concept, but knew that we wanted to cook AND eat with our guests, making a night of it.

We invited another couple that Steph had worked with, and planned the menu:

Starter:
Roasted vegetable Tart

Main:
Oxtail stew with Pumpkin Mash
Rocket and Butterhead Salad with a Poppy seed and caramelised onion dressing
________________
Lemongrass, Mint and Lime Sorbet
________________
Dessert:
Espresso Profiteroles and Ice Cream drizzled with a Warm Dark Chocolate Sauce

The starter, sorbet and desert was to be my domain, whilst Steph would focus on the Main course.
After my weekly Sat morning yoga, Steph and I met up at Tekka Market, quite easily the most amazing market in Singapore. There is NOTHING that you can't find here. It's about 40% cheaper than Cold Storage, and the variety is mind boggling. For a food enthusiast, going to Tekka Market for the first time after you've been subjected to limp vegetables and well, dead looking fish at your nearby supermarket is like a kid going to Disney land for the first time.
The vegetables look like they've been freshly plucked from a nearby farm, the herbs don't come in plastic packets in stingy limp proportions, but in big leafy bunches. The fish look quite positively alive and many of the stall owners are incredibly helpful and knowledgeable.

I took pictures on Steph's camera, but unfortunately it's on film so it might take us a while to finally get it scanned and posted. I will definitely do an entry on Tekka Market though, because I really do think it's a fascinating place.

Anyway, We bought what we needed for the night, and started preparing once we got home.

Let me start with the Roasted Vegetable Tart.
Recipe:
Make a portion of shortcrust pastry
Chop up aubergine, yellow pepper, cherry tomatoes and courgettes into bite size chunks. Place them in a roasting pan and drizzle over some olive oil and salt.
bake at 375 degrees for half an hour.
Line 6x 10cm tart tins with the shortcrust pastry and bake blind for 15 mins, remove the baking weights, puncture base of tart with a fork and bake for another 10 mins.
Chop up mozarella cheese into bite size chunks, mix into the roasteed vegetables.
Place a teaspoon of pesto sauce into the base of the tart, fill tart with roasted vegetables and bake for another 10 mins.
Remove when the cheese has melted.
Garnish with a Basil leaf.

It was quite tricky removing the tart from it's casing without breaking up the tart altogether, but i managed after my ginger attempts to ease it out. i love this recipe. I think it looks great, and it's a nice little starter.

2005-07-17T01:58:00.000-07:00

ox tail stew

rocket and lettuce salad

profiteroles

The Main course was a total success but I'm going to have to get Steph to post the recipe. The ox tail was also purchased from Tekka market, and was stewed to tender perfection, with the meat falling off the bone and madee flavourful by the carrot celery and onion in the stew.

Lemongrass, Lime and Mint Sorbet
My first attempt at sorbet and have to say i was happy with the results! it was probably sweeter than i would have liked, and the recipe I looked up on the net was for a more 'creamy' variety. Steph suggested that she would have preffered a less creamy version, which probably just means ommitting the full cream milk.

Anyway, it was taken from gastronomicmeditations.com

Below is the recipe:
Serves 8 to 10

Ingredients
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
5 stalks lemongrass, 1 or 2 outer leaves peeled away, coarsely chopped (yield a generous ¼ cup)
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, gently packed (tender leaf-end stems are okay)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
Pinch of sea salt
1 Tbsp Vodka (optional)
2 cloves (optional)

Preparation

Prepare an ice bath, by placing a large bowl filled with ice cubes in the sink. Fill the bowl with cold water.

Put the milk, water, sugar, lemongrass and cilantro in a saucepan. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from the heat and set aside to steep for 10 minutes. Cool the mixture by placing into the ice bath; stirring the liquid frequently.

Pour the cold mixture into a blender or the bowl of a food processor and add the lime juice and sea salt. Process until lemongrass and cilantro are finely ground and incorporated into the mixture. Pour the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl, extracting as much liquid as possible from the remaining solids.

The Espresso Profiteroles
These did not 'puff' up as much as I'd hoped. I was supposed to be able to divide these in half and put in a scoop of ice cream in each profiterole, but that didn't quite work out, so i scooped a generous dollop of ice cream over 3 profiteroles and drizzled over the chocolate sauce, which still did the job!

These were my THIRD recipe attempt from my Baking with Julia book (i'm getting real good value out of this purchase) and they were called 'Choux Paste'.

If anyone wants the recipe for this, let me know and i'll post it!

Sunday Dinner with friends

2005-07-08T01:44:00.000-07:00

These pictures really don't do justice to the food. It's so hard taking presentable pictures when it's hastily taken in front of guests (which i still tend to get a little embarassed about) - harsh flash, blurred image from close ups - no setting up of nice background etc.
Anyway, this was a dinner for 4 at my place - for 2 girlfriends, one of whom i had only met once but had discovered was my neighbour and someone whom I had immediately wanted to get to know better.
It was one of my first weekends in a month where I didn't have to work, and i was ecstatic! I had decided on the outset that the weekend was going to be spent indulging in my 'art'.

Here was the planned menu:

Starter
Japanese Eggplant topped with chopped prawns, grilled with a Sake Miso Sauce
Cold soft tofu with grated ginger and a lemon soya sauce topped with spring onions

Main
Grilled Salmon with Otsu

Dessert
Lemon Delicious Pudding

I wanted to try my hand at a new recipe. The salmon and otsu i had made before (it's truly one of my favourite home made dishes), but the eggplant and the lemon pudding were 'virgin recipes'.

I have to say everything turned out fantastic. Otsu is one of the most amazing dishes i have ever had the pleasure of tasting (and making). It's taken from 101cookbooks.com under the same title. Heidi of 101cookbooks had started her entry for Otsu with the following sentence: 'Listen up close, because I am going to tell you about the best recipe I've come across all year.'

She was not exaggerating.

I would strongly urge ANYONE with an inclination to eat a light noodle dish to make this at least once. It's easy and has an amazing combination of flavours. The salmon - i had made before (as seen in my posting Wednesday night dinner).

The eggplant recipe was taken from the Nobu cookbook i had borrowed from a friend of mine over the weekend. I had watched a chef i was helping out 2 nights before make a beautiful black cod with sake miso sauce and had asked him how he had made the sauce?
He asked me to look it up in the Nobu cookbook, and so when I discovered my girlfriend had the very cookbook sitting on her shelf, I rushed out to borrow it from her.

This eggplant dish is beautiful. And the sauce is really easy to make.
Sauce:
Sake
Mirin
White Miso Paste
Granulated sugar

Heat all ingredients over a pan until the sugar has dissolved.
set aside to cool.

The Lemon Delish Pudding, I made with my girlfriend in mind, who has a totally soft spot for lemon desserts. I also thought a light lemon sweet to finish off a fairly fresh and uncomplicated meal would be the perfect end not. I was convinced this was going to be a disaster, because as I put them into the oven in their respective ramekins, I discovered i had forgotten to add the milk into the batter!
No wonder the batter had looked so strange and eggy.

I quickly retrieved them, poured them back into the mixing bowl, hastily threw in the milk, and hoped for the best. The result was light, 'souffle' like but substantial enough to satisfy the palate for a tangy warm dessert.
The recipe was taken from Donna Hay's cookbook.

My proudest loaf of Bread

2005-07-08T01:43:00.001-07:00

I now know why the phrase 'the best thing since sliced bread' exists. I have finally managed to make a loaf of bread that i can truly say I'm proud of. Eating a slice of this bread fresh out of the oven, warm enough to watch the salted butter melt rapidly into the soft porous texture of the bread had me singing to it. No kidding. I was SINGING to my loaf of bread, humming an unidentifiable tune whilst singing lyrics along the lines of 'you're beautiful'.

You might think I've gone mad, but try this recipe and tell me you disagree. You won't, believe me.

It was taken from a newly purchased book called 'Baking with Julia' that i had spotten in Borders for it's 'sticky pecan bun' recipe (i thought this would give me the sticky soft buns I was looking for from my cinammon bun adventures).
The recipes in this book look a little more complicated than your average baking recipe, but it certainly looked 'credible' and 'professional' and serious enough for me to believe they would produce goodies that would be a cut above the rest.

I haven't tried anything else from this recipe book, but if this bread is anything to go by, I'm telling you bakers out there - go and buy this book!

Anyway, here's the recipe, It's v lengthy, so I'm going to try and summarise it as best I can, but really - it'll be worth your money - go buy the book:

2 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
7 cups *approx) bread flour
1 tablespoon salt
1/2stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

mix yeast, sugar and 1/2 cup water in a bowl, whisk to blend.
Working with a mixer with dough hook in place, add remaining 2 cups water and about 3 1/2 cups flour. Mix on low speed.
Add 3 1/2 cups more flour, increase mixer speed to medium and beat until dough comes together.
Add salt and continue to beat and knead for about 10 mins.
When dough is thoroughly mixed, add the butter, a tablespoon at a time.

First rise
Please dough in a large buttered or oiled bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise about 45 mins to 1 hour.

Shaping the dough
deflate dough, and then divide dough into 2 and work with one piece at a time. Rolll out each piece into a rectangular shape. Fold in dough on both sides (vertically) to meet in the middle. Fold in half again and seal the seams. Shape to fit into a loaf pans. Repeat wih other half of dough

Second rise
Cover loaf with oiled plastic wraps and allow to rise in a warm place until they double in size again.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

When loaves are fully risen, bake for 35 to 45 mins.

This bread makes FANTASTIC toast. The butter in it apparently allows the bread to toast to a honey golden brown,

2005-07-08T01:43:00.000-07:00

My Weekend of Indulgence

2005-07-03T00:55:00.000-07:00

Image taken from www.saintpierre.com.sg

Continuing on my mission to treat myself well this weekend, Saturday night was spent out on a 'date' with my boyfriend at SaintPierre.
If you visit their site, the home page introduces the chef and owner of Saint Pierre who has become quite a celebrity in the culinary circles in Singapore:

'EMMANUEL Stroobant is the kind of chef whose energy you wish you could siphon into little bottles and sell at some holistic flea market. Even reading his menu takes your breath away - if you think this is an exaggeration, try saying "low temperature roasted canon of lamb scented with purple garlic and summer herbs, pimientos del piquillo, edame beans, lemon confit and roasted pine nuts" in one breath.'

The Chef

We walked into the reception area of the restaurant and were greeted by Emmanuel himself. If you have been watching the cooking shows of today, you'd know that the stereotype image of the overweight and jolly chef doesn't quite prevail today. And if you ever entertained such stereotypes to begin with, Emmanuel would be the first to dispel these illusions.

Here's a chef that looks more like a rock star / Hollywood actor than someone who spends most of his time in a kitchen. Think Billy Idol without the snarl and leather- all blond and spiky hair and piercing blue eyes. He'd met my boyfriend before on several ocassions and warmly invited us to our table, asking us if we needed any guidance with the menu, highlighting that the restaurant's signature dish was their Foie Gras Classique. He also mentioned that their special for the night was the Wagyu beef cooked with slices of pan fried foie gras. His eyes lit up as he described it, adding with a slight wince 'But it is very fatty. It's not lean meat'. At this point I broke into a huge smile. 'I'm not on a diet,' I said. And couldn't have meant it more!

Wagyu Beef

Let me tell you a bit about Wagyu Beef. Known as the 'caviar of beef', wagyu beef has been described as follows:

"Wagyu meat is striking because of its wonderful marbling which results in a never-before-experienced succulence that sends the taste buds reeling. The fat in the meat has more monounsaturated fats and melts at room temperature which makes Wagyu beef suitable as part of a lower-cholesterol diet.
The high degree of marbling adds an extraordinary depth of flavour which makes Wagyu beef a culinary delicacy."

I had recently had a conversation with a friend that had grown up in Japan,talking about the wonders and beauty of Kobe beef and Wagyu beef. We talked about the cattle being massaged and fed with beer, which resulted in their tender flesh. What i didn't know was whether Kobe Beef and Wagyu beef were the same thing? I know both were horrendously expensive, but what was the difference? (if there was any?)

Here's what I found on the net:

All Kobe beef is Wagyu, but not all Wagyu beef is Kobe beef.

All Wagyu beef is not created equal … if you’re looking for is best-quality Wagyu, you should expect to pay $100 or more per pound. Wagyu for $30.00 per pound? It’s just not the same.
You may already be familiar with the famed Japanese Kobe beef — the most expensive beef in the world. Wagyu is the same breed stock that yields Kobe beef. However, to earn the appellation of Kobe beef, the cattle must be raised in Japan’s Hyogo Prefecture and its production must conform to standards imposed within that region.

Because of the scarcity and expense of open land and the high price of grain in Japan, Wagyu cattle have been raised successfully in Australia and the U.S. to meet the growing demand for this pricey delicacy.

Our Meal
I gave in to ordering the Wagyu. I figured that if I was going to indulgence in a fine restaurant, I might as well try Wagyu beef for the first time! I did not even ask what the price was - it was not featured on the menu, and this was not the kind of restaurant that had a chalk board mounted on the wall with the day's specials. I dived in and figured I'd make the money back later anyhow!
My boyfriend ordered the Cassoulet, a typical pork filled French meal I had read about before but had never tried.

I LOVED my Wagyu beef, served with pan friend foie gras. Thin Slices of almost rare marbled beef, paired with succulent foie gras that melted in my mouth. It did not disappoint and it was heavenly. The kind of meal you ate in small bites, closing your eyes in a beef filled rapture.

The cassoulet however, was not my cup of tea at all. To me, it tasted like barbequed pork you get at hawker centres with Char siew - except this was dry and came in huge porky salty chunks, paired with cassoulet beans (not a favourite of mine either),

I had not brought my camera with me, and teased my boyfriend about whether he would be embarassed if I started snapping away at my plate of food like an over zealous culinary tourist!

The Walnut Raisin Bread
Good bread is always a perk of fancy restaurants. The walnut raisin bread served here was one of the most delicious breads I've ever had. The waitress did not stop coming back to offer more slices of warm bread until I had to plead with her to stop!
The butter that was served was also the best butter I've ever tried. Apparently semi salted French butter available at places like Culina.

It was probably because of the bread that neither my boyfriend nor I could fit in dessert. I had a quick flick through the dessert menu and had not found anything I really wanted to try anyway. Crepe Suzette is not a favourite of mine.

Overall verdict, a good restaurant that takes pride in their food. The staff were friendly, but I have to admit not totally knowledgeable. For their signature dishes (foie gras) one cannot fault them and the special - was divine.
And I have made it a not too distant mission to master a walnut raisin loaf like the one served there. With good conversation thrown in revolving around subjects like being a 'citizen of the world' and 'Americanism' - it was a lovely dinner date.
Oh yes, and extremely expensive!

Me in A Kitchen

2005-07-03T00:37:00.001-07:00

kitchen
This was one of the pics taken of me for the shoot. I thought i'd post it since it's in the kitchen and therefore 'relevant'.
If i had a kitchen like this, I would be a very happy chappy, but unfortunately this was a 'model' kitchen with the 'dream' centrepiece chopping area.
my kitchen is about 1 tenth of the size.

More Apple Streusel Muffins!

2005-07-03T00:32:00.000-07:00

Apple Streusel

This was my 'saviour batch' after my blueberry muffins fell apart. If you think these look good, look below for the detailed posting on this. I've decided this is one of my best recipes for muffins. Fool proof, esthetically pleasing and totally totally YUMMY!

Blueberry and Lindt Dark Chocolate Muffins

2005-07-03T00:23:00.000-07:00

Blueberry dark chocolate muffin

Another installment of muffins for this weekend's delivery. I had bought a packet of Blueberries last week. I have avoided doing so for a while, figuring that it wasn't financially viable for my 'muffin business' to use a fruit that was sold at such a high price in Singapore. I wasn't sure what recipe to use for these blueberries. I had a recipe downloaded from baking911.com that asked for 1 pint of blueberries (i had 125g of blueberries and was pretty sure that didn't translate to 1 pint), so i quickly discarded the recipe.

The batter mix

I decided to 'live on the wild side' for this one, adapting from a recipe I had seen for rasberry and white chocolate muffins, figuring that replacing this with blueberries and dark chocolate couldn't be too much of a bad thing.
Although the picture shows a fairly decent looking muffin, what it doesn't show was that they actually have tattered bottoms.

When I tried to lift the muffins out of their tins, they crumbled and collapsed, the bottoms sticking to the pans and crumbling as I tried to ease them out of their moulds.
I'm not sure what was the cause. My guess is a few things: the blueberries and dark chocolate chunks were too large, resulting in the muffin not holding together easily, -or perhaps it was the sort of muffin that had to be baked in their paper lined cups (as advised in the recipe).

The combination tasted fine, but the use of canola oil somehow didn't taste right. Not my best attempt, which is why I won't bother including the recipe. I don't think i'll try this again. Because of the crumbling bottoms, I couldn't deliver these and had to bake a whole new batch for Sunday's delivery!
But if anyone's curious to try these, let me know and I'll post the recipe (For rasberry and white choc muffins!)

A big waste of good quality Lindt Chocolate too!

What a relief!

2005-06-30T08:56:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you what a relief it is not to be able to worry about what I eat.
This entry is not about my recent kitchen adventure. This post is about letting your belly hang over your belt and breathing a SIGH of relief.
I was on a diet for the past two weeks because of a photo shoot where i was one of the 'models'. This photo shoot, scheduled for 3 full days was for an image library that was to be used by the whole of Asia for years to come. The pressure to 'perform' so to speak was HUGE. Top add fear to this huge burden was the fact that day TWO involved a pool shot in a bikini. Imagine the nightmare i've been living in!!

So for the past two weeks, i've avoided carbs for dinner, and generally cut out half my social life declining invitations for late dinners that i knew would leave me crawling into bed filled with alcohol and a heavy meal.

And let me tell you, I was miserable.

I denied myself my constant cravings for dessert (actually, i really should learn how to curb this bad BAD habit), I tried to keep my baking adventures to a bare minimum to avoid tempting myself, even if it meant licking the mixing bowl. I was crabby from the lack of sugar and crabby from waking up every morning hungry and STILL seeing the same old me in front of the mirror.

My End of Diet Fantasy
In the last leg of this marathon of denial (i know, it was ONLY two weeks - but truly, it felt like a gruelling eternity), I was starting to fantasize about the treats I would give myself at the end of this dreaded shoot. There was my chocolate Fantasy - max brenner's Chocolate Heaven in the Esplanade - i was laughing about it to another chocolate fanatic friend that we would skip dinner and have chocolate waffles, the molten chocolate cake and their brownies with ice cream all in one sitting!
And there was all the junk food I was going to allow myself. And the pasta, and the bread, and attempting another batch of cinnamon rolls jam packed with slabs of butter and ENJOYING it without guilt.

And i talked to my boyfriend about going for a REALLY nice meal together at a restaurant and not wondering how much butter went into that delightful plate of scallops.
Already, he had been complaining that i was no fun on a diet. There was so much I could not do.

My list of indulgences started after the 2nd day of my shoot. By this time, I had decided it was too late to diet - PLUS the bikini shot was over. I ended my night at 11pm with a chocolate brownie and vanilla ice cream from Haagen Daazs.
on the last day of the shoot, we all had take away Burger King for dinner. A double cheeseburger, onion rings and a large coke. Honestly, it was at this point that I felt like throwing up. It was a big shock to the system, and no matter how nice the idea of junk food when you feel like you've been starving yourself for years, junk food is still junk food. Plastic and chemical and too much of it on a newly shrunk stomach is never a good idea.

In the past 3 days, i have also had a Kit Kat Chunky, mee goreng, durian, some mashed potato with truffle from a dinner i was helping a chef with last night, tarte tartin with pear and ice cream, savouring the charred caramelised puff pastry. I have to admit, I couldn't quite shake off the feeling of guilt after it though.

Tonight, i've got my date at a fancy restaurant which I'm thrilled to bits about. Going to St Pierre with the bf. I first read about st Pierre in the Wall Street Journal before i even moved to Singapore. The food critic had given the restaurant a full 5 stars, rating it as a top notch French restaurant. It'll be interesting to see for myself.

Here's to a weekend of indulgence and enjoying the joys of food!

Malteser Muffins!

2005-06-26T07:17:00.000-07:00

Malteser muffins

These turned out FANTASTIC! And what a great product placement picture for Maltesers hey?
I had held on to this Delicious Magazine with a series on muffins for a while now, ear marking the malteser muffin recipe and their 'ultimate chocoholics' muffin recipe for a serious emergency muffin need in the near future.

The opportunity arose to make it when last week i was given a whole gift box of Maltesers at work (leftover from a delivery that had come in showcasing the 'christmas' selection, and in case i haven't mentioned it, i work for Mars, the company that gave birth to Mars, M&M's, Maltesers, Bounty, Snickers, Dove, Galaxy.... etc etc - and yes, it is tempting to be surrounded by chocolate!)

I had to deliver another batch of muffins for this weekend, and decided to 'take the risk' with this recipe, having no clue whether it would turn out well or not. I might have mentioned in earlier postings before that i had always sought after those perfect domed tops that come billowing out of their muffin cups. This recipe makes those larged domed tops. It uses 1 tablespoon of baking powder (and i use double acting baking powder which probably adds to the rise). On top of that, the tops were crispy - a much desired and loved part of for muffin lovers.

I think having to half fill 3 empty muffin cups with water contributed to the 'crispy tops'. I don't ever get crispy domed tops, and i think this might have been the trick. Because the recipe surprisingly only filled 3 cups of my jumbo sized muffin tin, i filled the remaining 3 with water (i had read somewhere before that one needs to balance the filled muffin tin when in the oven and to avoid burning the empty cups in the tin? - I'm not sure, but i think that was it)

After 20 mins, they came out huge and glorious with large LARGE domed tops. I have to confess that what you see in the picture are actually my second batch of this recipe. The first batch as i said, only made 3 large muffins. Following my policy not to deliver something i've never tried before, i of course was 'FORCED' to try one of the 3 and damn, was it good! Very sweet i must say, so make it if you're craving a dessert muffin. i tried a measly quarter, then wrapped up the remainder in foil and passed it to a girlfriend who had come to pick me up for a party that night (i had made these at 9:30pm on Sat night)

My Muffin Proposal
Now, I'm very proud of what then happened. She brought it to the party, and offered a portion to a guy friend of hers (that i had just been introduced to). He tried it, then said 'I would marry her for muffins like these' to which she said, 'well too bad, she's attached'. and we had a laugh about what a good line this would make in my blog. So there you go. The high point in my muffin career - a proposal from a near stranger.
Even if it was just hypothetical, it feels good to be able to tell the story.

So here goes the recipe!

Malteser Muffins

1 1/2 cups (225g) cups plain flour
1 cup crushed Maltesers, plus
24 whole Maltesers to decorate
1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar
1 tbs baking powder
1 egg
3/4 sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup melted unsalted butter
1/4 cup (60ml) milk

Caramel Icing (this is optional of course. I opted not to use icing on mine!)
1 1/2 cups (225g) icing sugar, sifted
1 tbs milk
2 tbs golden syrup
30g unsalted butter, softened

To make the icing, beat all ingredients together with a wooden spoon.

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease muffin tins.
Sift flour into large bowl with maltesers, sugar, baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt.
In a separate bowl beat together egg, sour cream, vanilla, butter and milk, then fold mixture into dry ingredients until just combined. Pour into muffin pans and bake for 16-20 mins, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool slightly in the pan, then remove to cool completely.
Spread icing over muffins, then decorate with a whole Malteser.

p.s. As i was saying, what you see in the picture were my second batch (made on Sunday). I was craving them so much and had forgotten to take a pic of my first batch! for this second batch, i made them in smaller muffin tins( which meant 6 in total) - so what you see is not quite as huge as what were delivered to the cafe this morning. Having said that, i cut down on the sugar for this batch, which i have to say -resulted in a less satisfactory muffin, so my advise is follow the recipe word for word - and make them in jumbo sized muffin tins!

Honey Toasted Home Made Muesli!

2005-06-18T19:10:00.000-07:00

Home Made Muesli

This recipe was taken once again from 101cookbooks.com which the author had taken from Michele Crantston's 'The Essential Guide to the Kitchen'.

The picture posted on the net was seductive enough to make me want to make it immediately.
I don't normally eat much for breakfast - i have cultivated the habit of fruit and lots of water for breakfast. But the thought of home made muesli sounded yummy. Reading through the recipe, it didn't seem very difficult to make at all.

Instead of Slivered almonds (which i didn't have sitting in my kitchen) i substitued it with pistachios. Instead of dried apples, i used dried apricots and raisins instead.

The result was a toasty muesli PACKED with chewy crunchy goodness. I ate it the next morning with natural low fat yoghurt. Because it's got so many textures thrown into it, I have to say that all that chewing gave my jaw a bit of an ache, but it was certainly satisfying. It's probably not as healthy as it might want you to think - but it tasted so good I had it for lunch as well!

I am definitely going to make this again and again. plus it's a great gift for your breakfast eating friends!

Honey-toasted Fruit Muesli
Preheat the oven to 300°F.

Put 5 cups rolled oats into a large bowl. Add 1 cup unsalted sunflower seeds, 1 cup slivered almonds, 1 cup triticale (see above note), 1 cup shredded coconut and 2 tablespoons sesame seeds. Stir to combine.

Heat 3/4 cup honey and 4 tablespoons vegetable oil in a saucepan over low heat. Pour the warm honey mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until they are well coated.

Spread the mixture on a baking tray and bake for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Add 1/4 cup finely sliced dried apricots, 1/4 cup finely sliced dried apples and 1/4 cup finely sliced dried peaches (heidi note: I used dried papaya). Toss to combine. Store the muesli in an airtight container.

Makes 12 servings.

Kitchen: The Essential Guide to the Kitchen by Michele Cranston (Whitecap, September, 2005)

Irish Soda Bread

2005-06-18T19:09:00.001-07:00

Irish Soda Bread

I have never had Irish Soda bread in my life, and wouldn't know for a minute if what I made replicated the real deal. This recipe was taken from 101cookbooks.com - a food site I love feasting my eyes on. It was an attractive recipe because i was looking for something to make with my near expiry butter milk,and it was also a loaf of bread that didn't seem to require much time to make. At 10pm, this was an important consideration!

Unfortunately, i didn't have as much buttermilk as what was required - I was short of a whole 3/4 cup full of it which probably had a lot to do with the end result which was extremely dry. I also didn't bake it in a loaf pan as suggested, but 'free form' in two dough shapes.

Later, doing a search on the internet, i found that buttermilk can be substituted with a teaspoon of lemon with a cup of milk - or alternatively, a tsp of vinegar with milk. I'm not sure whether this is a passable substitute, but if it is, it's going to save me a lot of money buying cartons of buttermilk i never seem to be able to finish.

Having said that, i bought salted butter specially to slather on the bread as it came out of the oven - and have to say that it still didn't last very long (fresh bread straight out of the oven , no matter how bad - is still wonderful) - hence the reason I don't have a picture of the 'untouched' loaf. I was down to the last two slices before i realised I hadn't taken a picture yet!

Below is the recipe if anyone cares to try it. I suggest that it's a great one for bread beginners to start with - no kneading necessary, no long waiting period - but warning: you have to like the coarse taste of whole wheat. If you're into fluffy white breads, this is not for you:

Irish Mum's Brown Bread
3 cups whole wheat bread flour (Ross says: this is best when the flour is coarse as opposed to the whole wheat flour you get here which is fully milled. Heidi says: I used a standard whole wheat bread flour which seemed to be pretty finely milled, because that's all I could find, even at Rainbow Foods.)

1 cup unbleached white bread flour (Heidi: I used King Arthur brand)
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 3/4+ cups buttermilk
2 ounces butter (preferably Kerrygold)
1 egg

Melt the butter over gentle heat.
In a medium-sized bowl lightly beat the egg and then gradually add the buttermilk all the while stirring to incorporate the egg. Beat in the butter.

In another bowl sift and mix the dry ingredients as best you can (not really a prob if you can't find the coarse flour), and then stir in the buttermilk mixture. If you are using a baking tin the mixture should be on the wetter side - (heidi: like a thick brownie mix, something you could pour into the tin, not scoopable by hand really). If your dough is too dry, mix in small splashes of buttermilk until it is the right consistency.

Cook at 400F for 50 minutes on the middle rack. You want to hear a sort of hollow sound when you knock on the bottom of the tin. Resist the urge to take the bread out too soon, or the middle of the bread won't get cooked through.

Makes 1 loaf.

Super Rich Chocolate Tart

2005-06-18T19:09:00.000-07:00

Chocolate Tart

I have not done justice with this photo. Right now, all you probably see is some brown muck sitting in ratty looking pie crust. But in reality, this was a totally sinful, rich and gooey indulgence of the most wicked variety. And a success at first attempt!

This is the first recipe i have ever made from 'The Art of the Tart' by Tamasin Day Lewis. It's a beautiful book that i had purchased a few months back upon the recommendation of my cousin. Many of the recipes in the book unfortunately, use a lot of recipes that are either not readily available in our tropical climate, or extremely expensive to buy in Singapore (fresh apricots, nectarines, peaches, artichokes, prosciutto).

What to bring for dessert?
I was going to a 'pot luck' BBQ at a friend's place on Sat night. We've had a few 'fancy' barbeques here before and it's a GREAT place - a gorgeous colonial bungalow with an outdoor area complete with a gas fire BBQ pit and a graceful banyan tree shrouding the wooden decked outdoor surroundings.
It was 'pot luck' style and as there were a few cooks in the group, the menu was a little more than the average barbeque fare:

The Menu
Oven baked parrot fish with a chili & 'kicap manis' dip
Lamb wrapped in bacon and rosemary orange puree
Pork Slouvaki
Watercress salad with avocados, cashews and grapefruit
Gourmet pork sausages
Potato salad with capers
Squid with a lemon / mint and chili olive oil dressing (my contribution!)
Pita Bread (cooked on the pit ) - my contribution!
Tofu with spicy thai condiments
Japanese potato

As you can see- even though there were 10 of us - we were all hardly able to move after the 'first' round of goodies were laid out on the table.
I have to say that my contributions were a total success (the squid was divine, and the pita bread- i had made them once before - were a firm favourite)

But what i'm trying to come to is - having thought about what everyone was bringing for the night, i realised there was a large gaping hole in the menu - 'dessert'!
Ideally, something light to finish off the large heavy spread that we had was probably more appropriate, but having seen this chocolate tart in Tamasin Day Lewis' book, I was hooked on wanting to make it.

The Evil Ingredients of this Tart
Let's see- the crust was a 'pate sucree' as they call it - sweet shortcrust pastry with 225g flour, 150g butter,3 egg yolks (i think?) and 75g icing sugar.
The chocolate filling itself required 200g of bitter chocolate, another huge block of butter (another 150g i think?) another 3 eggs, 2 more egg yolks, a big pouring of caster sugar. It was quite positively shocking but you know what - it was worth it.

Another thing- i used free range eggs in view of my vegetarian friend Leslie who has never been able to eat my desserts because she can't eat non free range eggs.

The End Result
I was almost sure this dessert was going to fall apart because the pate sucree was incredibly hard to roll out as it was so buttery and soft. As i tried laying it into the pie tin, it started breaking into bits and i ended up having to patch all the broken bits together in the tin.
However, after baking in the oven (for longer than the 25 mins it had specified in the recipe) the crust came out a nice golden brown with a crisp 'biscuity' taste.

The end result was a super rich Chocolate tart with a crisp sweet biscuit base and a gooey thick chocolate filling. Tamasin Day Lewis described this recipe as 'If there is a heaven, this is it'. It is the ultimate chocoholic's indulgence.
Of course, it helped that I splashed out by using the Lindt Bitter Chocolate (85% cocoa) that i had been saving in my fridge for a few weeks now. My friends are certainly a pampered and privileged lot!

More Cinammon Rolls!

2005-06-18T19:07:00.000-07:00

Mini Cinammon Rolls

This was my second attempt at Cinnamon Rolls. As you might have read from my last posting on cinammon rolls, i was not happy with the 'bready texture' and had wanted to make the bread softer and gooey-er.
I had purchased a roll from a Cinammon shop after my first batch and had broken down the taste sensation bite by heavenly bite, concluding that i had to make my rolls softer and more sinful!

Suggestions from fellow blogger Nic (who i had taken this recipe from) was to use butter instead of milk when brushing it on the dough, and perhaps substituting the oil in the dough with more butter! I was ready to try this - ignoring the issue of well... fat and cholesterol!

Unfortunately, this batch was less appetising than the first. Firstly, i made MINI cinammon rolls - using half the recipe and then dividing the dough into 2 before rolling them out - which meant smaller logs from which to cut from. I'm not sure if this affected the end result (having smaller rolls) but they came out of the oven dry and hard and not gooey at all! I had brushed on melted butter instead of milk - but i suspect now that we don't mean a 'thin layer of melted butter' but actually big chunks of butter (to be left to melt in the oven and bubble out from the little folds of the rolls to dribble down your hand as you eat.... ooohh)
I might also have overbaked them as the tops were browner than the first batch - do you think this could have dried out the bread a bit more?

The glaze however i did get right as you would have seen in the picture above. Thicker sweet glaze with a milky sheen.
I also did a variation with chocolate chips and cinammon - which was lovely, if not for the hard bread texture!

I guess this calls for a THIRD attempt! I gave these rolls to my colleagues - they ate them politely but no one said 'wow - these are great' . no kidding - not one. i am not being paranoid.

Wednesday night dinner

2005-06-08T08:31:00.000-07:00

Grilled Salmon & Risotto

I was off from work and figured i had no excuse not to make an effort for dinner that day. I decided to veer off the weekday routine of making healthy salads and decided instead on a salmon and risotto combination.

I had been meaning to make a vegetarian risotto for a while because i had some good vegetable stock frozen in a small tupperware in the freezer (made with a generous portion of leek/ corn/ tomatoes/ bay leaf/ carrot and assorted herbs).
This risotto was a healthy variation (no butter and no parmesan to stir in at the end) - a small dash of olive oil to sautee the chopped onions - and the rest of it was just stirring the carnaroli rice (i had bought this at a gourmet shop a while back) with the vegetable stock.
The peas were stirred in at the last minute, lending additional texture to the risotto and some nice colour!(and i guess it provided some added 'vegetable' nutrition - although i'm always doubtful that frozen peas have any sort of nutrition?)

Easy Peasy salmon
This salmon is the easiest and most delicious thing to make. I had read the recipe in one of my Delicious magazines.
Simply chop up some ginger and garlic, marinate with the salmon together with a dash of sweet chili sauce, (i used the Thai variety) soya sauce and oyster sauce. Leave in the fridge for about half an hour to marinade.

When the risotto was almost ready (it took about half an hour), i heated the grill plonked the salmon under the grill for about 10 mins. There's no need to flip it over or anything of that sort. Just leave it be - you'll know when it's ready when you poke a little at the flesh and the inside doesn't look raw, but pink and juicy. be careful not to over grill it! i'm v particular about overcooked fish, which end up losing their 'juiciness'.

I would like to believe that this was a healthy dinner overall (unless of course you're still on the Atkins mantra - but my thoughts on Atkins - he's dead! get on with it!) and it felt like i had whipped up a fancy restaurant meal right in the humble confines of my home in under an hour.

i ate my dinner in a glow of self satisfaction!

Sunday Brunch

2005-06-08T08:19:00.000-07:00

Breakfast

Roasted Veg Fritatta

2005-06-08T08:13:00.001-07:00

Cinammon Rolls

The pictures you see here are a result of a sunday brunch last week with another couple. The girl had been a part owner of a peranakan restuarant in signapore, along with a catering business and her eyes had lit up when we met at an art exhibition and i had told her about my 'Soul cravings' idea. we decided to have a 'cooking session' at their place on a sunday morning, and get creative!

We agreed to meet at Jasons (posh supermarket with the best meats) and agreed standing in front of the ham and sausage section that we would cook up a nice juicy chicken sausages, roasted veg frittata, grilled portobello muhshroom and cheese (good Margaret River Port cheddar - one of the best cheddars i know off the shelf) with a baguette.
I must say that most of it was Grace and Holman's idea given that i didn't wake up feeling especially adventurous - plus, my ideas for breakfast were thoughts of buckwheat pancakes, scones and sliced strawberries on french toast.
But we were going savoury, and based on what was already planned on the menu, it looked like we already had enough on our plates!

We brough the food back to their place - and started cooking!
They have a beautiful home - large glass windows, grand spread of trees outside and a cool Sunday breeze. it was perfect for a leisurely Sunday morning.

Roasted Vegetable Frittata
I've never made this before, and it was certainly a learning experience for me as Grace took over the reins. Slice red onions, throw it on the pan with a large slab of butter (having been privy to the goings on in a commercial kitchen, grace told me i really didn't want to know the immensely generous amounts of buter that go into 'restaurant food) - sautee them until they soften.
We sliced potatoes into 0.5 cm thin slices and threw them in, until they too softened.
in the meantime, i roasted a red pepper over a fire until blackened.
Cracked 6 eggs into a bowl, salt and pepper, rosemary and thyme, and chopped roasted pepper, and poured this entire concoction into the pan with the sauteed onion and potatoes. And wait whilst the heat cooks the omellete (how on earth do you spell omellete?) as it solidifies around the onion and potato mixture in the pan, forming a thick layer.

The portobello mushrooms were just placed in the oven with some olive oil and salt i think and came out juicy and tender.

The cinnamon rolls i had brought with me from Saturday's baking project!

All in all, a good hearty combination washed down with a lot of orange juice and good conversation.

My best batch so far

2005-06-07T17:43:00.000-07:00

Choc Chip cookies

My Mission
I've been on a mission to create the best chocolate chip cookies in town.
I have not charted my choc chip expeditions on this blog. There have been numerous batches that have gone unaccounted for. I have a recipe book called 'Great Cookies' - i have probably made 5 attempts from the same recipe - never to complete satisfaction. i've tried another chocolate chip cookie recipe from Donna Hay - not bad, but not perfect either.
A recipe i took from 101cookbooks (taken from David Lebovitz's great book of chocolate) were much loved by a friend of mine who likes chewy choc chip cookies and said they were absolutely fantastic - but for my much tested palate, i'm looking for a crispy chocolate chip cookie- light and 'moorish'.

Famous Amos
I bought a small bag of cookies from Famous amos a few weeks back and have to say that there is nothing quite like it. It's a little paper bag of explosive heaven. Famous Amos cookies have since been my benchmark for the perfect cookie.

I searched the net for the 'famous amos choc chip recipe'(with great doubt that I would find anything 'genuine' given that they MUST guard this recipe with great pride)
i found the one below - which looked rather credible (it said that it was published in the Atlanta-Journal Constitution as the actual recipe by Famous Amos). I attempted it last night and have to say that they taste fabulous! I replaced margarine with butter (found it a bit odd that it asked for margarine - anyone have any ideas what cookies are like with margarine?) and halved the entire recipe (i did not want the temptation of so many cookies sitting around at home)
Crispy, just the right amount of sweetness - these were with raisins, which i liked a lot.

One problem though is that i still haven't solved the issue of 'spreading'. I often place the formed dough into the fridge for at least 10 mins before placing them in the oven to bake, but they always seem to spread. I have read numerous solutions on the net - half veg shortening (which i haven't tried), placing in fridge (which i have) - using cold butter straight from the fridge (which i always do)... it's another challenge. For my umpteenth attempt!

Below is the recipe - i would recommend this to anyone with the urge to make a yummy batch! any tips on cookie spreading, let me know!
__________________________________________
Famous Amos Choc Chip raisin cookie

Ingredients:

2 cups (4 sticks) margarine, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon water
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups sifted, all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups raisins
1 package (12 ounces) semi sweet
chocolate pieces

Beat softened margarine, brown and white
sugars, vanilla, water and eggs in a large
bowl with electric mixer until creamy and
thoroughly blended.

Stir in flour, baking soda and salt until
well mixed. Stir in raisins and chocolate
pieces.

Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto cookie
sheets. Allow 1 to 1 1/2 inches betwwen
cookies for spreading.

Bake in moderate oven (375 degrees F.) for 8
minutes, or until cookies are nicely browned,
depending on how crisp or well done you like
them. The longer you bake them, the crisper
they will be.

Makes about 6 dozens.

O dreaded 'Big N Tasty'

2005-06-06T05:24:00.000-07:00

Need i say more

You're probably wondering why i've posted the unmistakable Mc Donalds logo on my blog. Some of you might even find it mildly offensive. well i thought i should veer of my 'fresh out of oven' path for a bit here and confess my dirty deed for the day.
I was hungry, it was 12:30pm - i circled the basement of the shopping centre i was at, every square foot of it crammed with eateries - I made a quick tour. KFC, Delifrance, Coffee bean, MOS burger, Secret Recipe, Mc Donalds.... Mc Donalds.... hmmm.... Mc Donalds. And so feeling rebellious, i took a deep breath, walked in and waited in line as the throngs of students before me belted out their greedy orders. I already knew what i wanted, but tried very hard in my last few minutes of waiting for the sweaty boy in front of me to make up his mind to talk myself out of it. 'Go on, grab that juicy red apple for $0.50 and walk out of here. Don't you remember Supersize me? remember that stomach surgery and the globs of fat on that guy?'

'Ah yes? oh sure - a 'Big N Tasty' value meal please. er... make that a diet coke.'

And before i knew it, i was carrying a plastic tray and whisking my meal to a corner of the joint.

You're probably thinking 'what's the big deal? the stuff you make is LOADED with butter and sugar and heart attack inducing ingredients ' so what's the big deal about a 800 calorie lunch?
Well, firstly, i just watched Supersize me 2 weeks ago. I realise no one is supposed to eat Mc donalds 3 times a day for 30 days straight, and serves him right for putting on 20 pounds and losing his sex drive. But one can't fault the docu- film? for making you think twice before sinking your teeth into one of their juicy burgers. It drives home the fact that the stuff's just not good for you. Period.
Secondly, i'm due for a photo shoot in about 2 weeks time. i've been chosen as one of the 'talents' for my brand's regional photo shoot - the shoot is costing five countries over $100k and i'm going to be the one the photographers are going to be 'touching up' on photoshop - i should be stuffing carrtos down my throat - not a juicy burger and deep fried potatoes. They're gonna have to clock in some major overtime on photoshop edging out my gut if i'm not careful.
So there you go - pressure not to be doing what i so love - cooking, and eating eating eating!
Thirdly... i'm trying to think of thirdly - but firstly and secondly are probably sufficiently credible reasons to feel real 'naughty' about sitting in the corner on a plastic red chair and unwrapping a mayonnaise slathered burger wrapper. oooh the glee.

It was goood. I have to say i'm a fan of the 'big and tasty' burger. it's divine. but the sad part was feeling guilty the whole time i was eating it. So guilty i got up, got right back in the queue and ordered myself a chocolate hot fudge sundae. How about that eh? it's the whole 'since you're drowning yourself halfway, might as well go all the way'!

Oh well. maybe i'll be good tomorrow. Lettuce and honey red tomatoes. haha. maybe.

The baby's got taste!

2005-06-06T05:19:00.000-07:00

Dylan the Muffin Fan!

My friend Gibble sent this picture to me today of her 5 month old son Dylan and yes, that's my oatmeal raisin muffin that he's eyeing (salivating?) over! i'm sure he was probably thinking of something completely different like 'man, i wish i could have some of my mummy's milk now instead of this weird thing in front of me', but hey - let's leave it for what it might look like - the kid's got discerning taste! and isn't he an absolute squishy bundle of joy?
Gibble was at the cafe that i deliver muffins to on Sunday and ordered one of my deliveries (well, she actually wanted an apple streusel but ended up getting an oatmeal raisin instead!) This picture makes me smile!
p.s. the cigarettes are not Dylan's by the way!

Yummy Cinammon Rolls

2005-06-05T00:22:00.000-07:00

Cinnamon Rolls

I love cinammon rolls but have never eaten them often because the ones that are sold at some 'cinammon bun' chains in Singapore are always far too sweet and gooey, leaving me feeling like i have swallowed a ton of butter and sugar.
But I couldn't resist trying to make them for the first time after seeing a picture of 'fresh out of oven' home made varieties by a fellow blogger who had taken the recipe from another blogger called Nic from Baking sheet( for recipe, go visit her link).

They look fantastic - and it was much easier to roll than i had envisioned. The recipe said that it would make 20 rolls. Not knowing if i would like the outcome, i halved the quantity and true enough, it made 10 perfect circular twirls.

My verdict - the texture of the bun was a bit drier that i would have liked. I'm not sure if it's because i added too much flour, or perhaps overkneaded it? I added a bit too much milk to the glaze, hence the glaze was not as 'visible' as it probably should have been, and as per a friend's advise (who ate it for dessert last night with a large dollop of vanilla ice cream) - i could probably have piled on more cinammon. I personally would like to try a variation with chocolate oozing out, and explore a way to make the bun more moist - certainly another attempt for another day.

Apple Streusel Muffins

2005-06-03T17:47:00.000-07:00

Apple Streusel Muffins

I have only recently started exploring the blogs of other cooking / baking enthusiasts. It is certainly a humbling and sobering experience to know that there are so many others out there who are so much more passionate, so much more regular with their updates and so completely involved!
I chanced upon one called bakingsheet (i've added her blog as a link on my site) where i found a recipe for apple streusel muffins that she had learned from a baking class.
I've been looking for new recipes to experiment with for my weekly muffin deliveries and have found that those given on the web with personal commentaries can seem much more credible given the tips and advice that come along with it.
I seem also to have established a regular 'clientele' for my muffins, with the cafe owner frowning once when i hadn't delivered them one weekend 'People are asking for them you know!'
oh well - seems like this muffin 'side business' i have started is going to be a regular weekly commitment.

These apple streusel muffins looked great. Large domed top with a cinammon, walnut and brown sugar crumble topping. The recipe called for oil instead of butter (which i much prefer - cheaper, and also healthier!) - although i only managed to bake 3 large muffins with the recipe, and had to bake another batch (to make another 3) and therefore didn't get to try much more than a bite (the rest of the bigger part of the bite was given to my boyfriend).
From the bite, it seemed pretty good - not overly sweet, complimented by the sweet sprinkle of topping.
I'm trying to figure out what 'streusel' means? anyone got any ideas?

Next project - Cinnammon buns. I have seen them on another blog by another obviously talented and passionate chef called 'thebakerwhocooks' (her link also addeed to my site) - the pictures look absolutely scrumptious! My saturday afternoon project!

The Ultimate Chocolate Cake!

2005-06-01T08:48:00.000-07:00

Dark Velvet Chocolate Cake

My First Cake Order
My cooking 'partner' Steph, had been sharing our cooking escapades with a friend that she roller blades regularly with called Gary. During one of their blading sessions recently, Gary said to her that his boss's birthday was coming up - would both of us be up to the task of delivering a birthday cake for her? Steph checked with me, and i said sure - absolutely why not? (i was rather flattered that Gary had so much confidence to order a cake from me - for a boss's birthday no less!)

The best cake i have ever made is a dense, rich chocolate cake i had found on a great baking site called baking911.com The excerpt on the recipe page (by someone called Tami Smith) had said 'This is the recipe i have won many chocolate cake competitions with! ... This cakes is a dense cake, very moist, dark and the essence of a chocolate cake experience. It's not an everyday cake, but better saved for that special occassion'

Let me tell you - the recipe for this cake delivers EXACTLY as she says. It's dense, very moist, dark - a complete chocolate explosion. You know the famous scene from When Harry Met Sally - Meg Ryan could well have been eating this cake. If you're a chocolate lover, this cake is the big Multiple O.

What's different is that this cake contains double strength coffee - which i think makes it darker and denser. It was also advised (on the site) to pair this cake with Chocolate buttercream, for which i used Fine Quality Dark Belgian Couverture Chocolate my friend Mik had carted all the way back for me from London (featured in the background of the pic)

Precious Chocolate
Couverture chocolate basically means 'covering' in French. It has a higher percentage of cocoa butter than ordinary chocolate, making it 'melt in your mouth' and as a result makes for glossier coatings and a richer flavour. It is the most precious thing sitting in my fridge, and my dear friend Mik has been my 'deliverer' of hard-to-find couverture chocolate for a while now. Baking 911.com describes couverture chocolate as 'Mainly used by Professionals' - which always gives me a false sense of superiority as i think to myself 'professional! yes, me, that's me!' as i lick the remains of that divine melted bowl of chocolate.

It's commmon knowledge that the better the chocolate, the better the end result - so for a big project like this (for which i was going to be PAID for, ) i knew it called for me to part with one of my precious supplies of chocolate sitting stashed away in my fridge).

The recipe for this cake is a big one - it makes 2 square tins of cake - but given that my 'brief' was for a party of 20 people, i wasn't even sure if the cake would be big enough (as it turned out, it was big enough for 30!)
I placed a layer of Chocolate buttercream between the 2 cakes, then coated the entire '2 tier' cake with a generous slathering of chocoalte buttercream, hunched over the cake as i tried to make the icing as smooth and presentable as possible with my metal spatula.

I'll have you know that i started making this cake with Steph's help at 10am.
At 2am, i was still laboriously working on the icing, fully conscious of the fact that this was my first 'commercial' order and therefore in need of the greatest amount of 'professional' effort I could muster in my sleep deprived half delirious state.

I had problems with one of the square cakes. i think i had not buttered the base of the tin enough, and despite letting it cool in the pan for over 10 minutes after it came out of the oven (as suggested) it still refused to fall out of the tin. After much shaking about (ok, after a few attempts, i started getting impatient and might have started thwacking it on the kitchen counter top), it finally fell out - but in a bit of a cracked state (understandably), with a big chunk still stuck to the cake tin. It was probably at this point that I might have started hyperventilating a bit (the heat from the oven might not have helped).

Thank god for the Chocolate buttercream, which certainly helped to cover up a lot of the cracks, and after chilling the cake, the butter cream soon solidified and helped to hold the cake together as a big proud square chocolate temptation.

I wasn't as confident about this cake as I perhaps should have been. I had big plans to actually do the 'Happy Birthday Susie' writing on the cake, but was too afraid of messing up the iced cake (with zero experience on writing with icing - another project for another day), and decided i was going to whisk the cake to Bread Talk and beg them to write on it for me before delivering it that day.

I saw Steph that night and told her to sms Gary after he'd eaten the cake to ask what the verdict was from his boss and 20! colleagues. I was actually quite nervous that they might not have liked it as much as I'd hoped, but as it turns out, i had nothing to worry about. They loved it - and his boss was more than happy to take home the remainders of the cake to her family.

So Would i do this again? I'm not sure. It was a hell of a lof of effort and stress to be going through in the middle of the night. But maybe it'll get easier - like everything else, with practise. For now - a weekend delivery of muffins is probably more than i should handle for now.

Pita bread

2005-05-23T19:16:00.000-07:00

For a friend's 'Pot Luck' BBQ dinner over the weekend, I decided to contribute hoisin and sambal marinated pork chops (i had made these before) and thought i would experiment with Pita bread. I had read in a back issue of Delicious magazine (compliments of Jamie Oliver) a recipe for delicious pita bread cooked on the barbeque grill, drizzled once done with rosemary, olive oil and some sea salt.
I had never known one could 'bake' pita bread on the grill instead of in the heated confines of an oven.
After rolling the dough into flat oval shapes, they were thrown on the pit, approx 3 mins on each side - and true to form, they puffed up into white pita oval pieces, complete with the aesthetically 'decorative' charred lines of the grill imprinted on it.
Basting it with rosemary and olive oil and a sprinkling of sea salt, i have to say they tasted great with the exception that they were not rolled out thin enough, and would probably have tasted better split into half instead of torn into chunks (with impatient eagerness by hungry hands!)
I know i have said it before, but i will say it again. There is nothing like baking your own bread. The satisfaction, the sense of accomplishment, it's ability to impress, the pure joy of taking that first bite knowing that you made it with your own bare hands. In Nigel Slater's book Appetite (great read, highly recommend it), he says 'There's nothing like baking bread. It's easy, and everyone thinks you're a genius for it'

I would certainly make this again when the chance for another BBQ arises. It's a wonderful alternative to fluffy hot dog buns, and certainly do wonders to add a touch of 'sophistication' to normal BBQ fare.
Unfortunately, i don't have a good picture of the pita bread - oh well, one will just have to make it again soon!

Below is the recipe for whole wheat pita breads (i decided to replace the whole wheat flour with bread flour for the BBQ version) and of course, instead of baking them as recipe below suggests, simply throw them on the BBQ pit 3 mins each side.

Ingredients
1 (1/4-oz) package active dry yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons)
1 teaspoon honey
1 1/4 cups warm water (105–115°F)
2 cups bread flour or high-gluten flour, plus additional for kneading
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
Cornmeal for sprinkling baking sheets

Stir together yeast, honey, and 1/2 cup warm water in a large bowl, then let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn't foam, discard and start over with new yeast.)
While yeast mixture stands, stir together flours in another bowl. Whisk 1/2 cup flour mixture into yeast mixture until smooth, then cover with plastic wrap and let stand in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk and bubbly, about 45 minutes. Stir in oil, salt, remaining 3/4 cup warm water, and remaining 2 1/2 cups flour mixture until a dough forms.

Turn out dough onto a floured surface and knead, working in just enough additional flour to keep dough from sticking, until dough is smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes. Form dough into a ball and put in an oiled large bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise in draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Punch down dough and cut into 8 pieces. Form each piece into a ball. Flatten 1 ball, then roll out into a 6 1/2- to 7-inch round on floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Transfer round to 1 of 2 baking sheets lightly sprinkled with cornmeal. Make 7 more rounds in same manner, arranging them on baking sheets. Loosely cover pitas with 2 clean kitchen towels (not terry cloth) and let stand at room temperature 30 minutes.

Set oven rack in lower third of oven and remove other racks. Preheat oven to 500°F.

Warm Bread Rolls

2005-05-12T08:40:00.000-07:00

These bread rolls didn't actually taste as good as they look in the picture. I have baked bread on a few ocassions in the past to great success, my favourite recipe being tomato and onion bread. Now let me tell you that there is absolutely NOTHING like the smell of warm bread wafting out of your oven. My first experience of this was in England, when i had stayed a week with an English friend who lived in the countryside. She had a beautiful home with rabbits in her backyard, ponies that she would feed with fresh carrots at the field nearby and a bright kitchen with big windows that allowed the morning sunlight to stream in. She also had a lovely mother who baked bread. I remember the strong smell of warm freshly made bread wafting around in seductive circles in her kitchen (it was near midnight! i wonder if most 'bakers' have a craving to 'create' in the wee hours of the morning?!) My friend and i sat on kitchen stools watching in anticipation as her mother pulled the proud loaf of bread out of her big oven, cut them into thick slices and allowed us to slather an obscenely generous slab of salted butter on them. We oohed and aahed as the butter melted into the warm slice, and oh - the joy of that experience. I have never forgotten that - and that experience has never been replicated since. Except now in my kitchen!

I was experimenting with a new recipe downloaded from the net, inspired into action by a dinner i'm making for a party of eight on Saturday night. The pressure was on to produce a perfect loaf of bread. This recipe was quite frankly a disaster. It instructed me to heat the oil, milk and water in a pan until the temperature was at 160 degrees farhenheit. Silly me trusted they knew what they were talking about, but having searched the net since, it seems that yeast will not survive beyond 115 degrees farhenheit. So effectively, i killed off the yeast by pouring in this almost boiling mixture, and as a result, did not get the dough to rise, or double in size. It sat there, a nice elastic blob (dough hook used for the first time with my kitchenaid!) refusing to grow or develope air bubbles (punching down the dough was a futile exercise).

Nevertheless -that lovely sweet bready smell came wafting out of my oven, and taking that first bite of 'near hot' bread with butter was still a little piece of heaven. But the texture of the dough was stodgy and heavy - not ideal at all.

more bread rolls to be made then! these are not the end of my midnight projects.

Carrot & Raisin Cupcakes

2005-05-06T22:20:00.001-07:00

My weekly delivery of muffins to the cafe continues, and this week, i decided to branch out a bit from the ordinary to whip up some Carrot and Raisin muffins. I've made a cake from this recipe before, with a cream cheese frosting and it was delicious! The only modifications i made to the recipe for 'muffin' versions were to use double acting baking powder (for the large domed top) and omitted the cream cheese frosting because i wasn't sure how popular these would be, and didn't want to leave the cream cheese languishing atop the muffins all day,unrefrigerated.

Rain and Muffin Cravings
I returned to the cafe on a late Sunday afternoon to see that only 1 muffin had been purchased! The cafe owners consoled me with the fact that nothing 'sweet' had been sold all day - we blamed it on the weather! (heavy pouring rain throughout the day i suppose sparks off the need for greasy savoury fry ups , warm toast and sausages) - a longing for sunny side ups to will the sun into it's blazing glory.

Lemon Chiffon Delight

2005-05-05T04:51:00.000-07:00

Bear with me - i have to rant on about my Kitchenaid. It will probably last me through a few more entries on this blog. The presence of this gleaming beauty in my kitchen has well invaded my dreams of big fluffy cakes otherwise impossible to create without the help of some amazing tools. And it didn't take long before i started fantasising about making that perfect Chiffon cake.

I have been eating chiffon cakes since i was a child. A common cake in Malaysia, a constant feature in one's neighbourhood bakery,my mum would often buy one of 2 varieties - pandan and orange. A single chiffon cake would sit on our dining table on a Saturday, slowly disappearing in quarters as the day went on.

Since migrating to a kitchen of my own, i have attempted chiffon cakes twice. Both to no particular success - the base of the cake would taste dense, and there would be a lack of 'air' in the texture. But with a Lemon Chiffon cake newly downloaded from the net, i was ready to brave it once again with my 'kitchenaid' courage.

Whisking 8 egg whites is no easy feat unless you have a kickass machine (see what i mean about the constant bragging!) i almost wanted to hug my kitchenaid in appreciation as it whisked away in whirring efficiency, whipping the egg whites into a frothy storm.

Lemon Chiffon cakes are not for those watching their cholesterol. 8 large eggs can't be all that good for you. Having said that - no butter - only half a cup of vegetable oil, hence the lack of the 'oily' aftertaste one gets from a buttery cake.

After one hour baking time in the oven, i lifted it out of it's heated cocoon to witness a chiffon cake in full bloom, all light and airy and fluffy as god intended.
My first bite was heaven. The first thought that popped into my head was 'I gotta let my mum try this' - it was the sweet taste of cakes eaten at home, purchased from the market, shared with the family. Only this time, i was eating it once again at midnight under the curious stare of my ginger cat - and i sure as hell wasn't about to share it with him.

Sweet meringues -my Kitchenaid's virgin voyage

2005-04-19T16:50:00.000-07:00

After opening my brand new 'Kitchenaid', i lay in bed at 11pm reading the manual. It was late, and i wanted to end the night fantasising about what my 'virgin' recipe on this new toy would be. But after reading all the different speed options (10!!) it's advanced superior rotating motion (doing away with the need to scrape the bowl much), it's ability to cut butter into flour, it's 3 attachments (paddle, whisk and dough hooks)!, i got myself so worked up and excited, i had to leap out of bed and try making something with it.
It was near midnight, but the first thing i wanted to try was the much dreaded meringue. Dreaded because i've never been able to whisk it to perfect 'stiff peaks'. There was always a layer of liquid egg white still languishing at the bottom of the mixing bowl at the end of each of my attempts in the past.

My girlfriend Audrey (whom i was playing squash with the next day )is a true fan of meringues. She's the only one i know who's constantly asking me to make them at dinners / parties (i personally don't like meringues) - so my mission was set. Meringues for Audrey - Kitchenaid's virgin voyage.

So i pulled out my Donna Hay cookbook, cracked in the egg whites, poured in the sugar, the cornflour and vinegar - and set the whisk speed at speed 6 (it goes all the way up to 10. And oh my goodness - the ease in which it whisked in effortless frenzy my egg whites! Stiff peaks in no time! and what a beautiful rotating motion, quietly whirring away to the task.

I swear my mouth had fallen open. I was Bug eyed and amazed.
It is a gorgeous piece of equipment, and i recommend it to anyone who wants to bake - whether for pleasure, business, gluttony - whatever. Get one today!

Oh and yes -the meringues were perfect.

My brand new Kitchenaid!

2005-04-19T16:48:00.000-07:00

I HAVE ONE!! I HAVE ONE!!! I FINALLY HAVE ONE!!

Now that i've done the 'screaming at top of lungs in excitement' bit - let's move on.
For those who have read my first entry in this blog, you would have read that i had only started amassing my modest collection of kitchen tools over the past 2 years. i have a small oven that doesn't fit normal cookie sheets and had only recently bought an oven temperature guage. I had mentioned that i had 'lusted' after a kitchenaid - the 'MAC's' of the mixer world.

And what a beauty it is!
My boyfriend had made a recent trip to Melbourne, and had secretly looked up the distributor of Kitchen aids in Australia, having seen me salivate over them on the net. I picked him up from Changi airport when he arrived home, and saw him pick up a huge hunk of a box off the conveyor belt, and oh the excitement! i was jumping from one foot to the other as he rolled his trolley towards me, going 'is it? is it? is it what i think it is?'
What a moment of pure joy!

The funny thing is - i didn't open the box that first night. I wanted to prolong the anticipation, afraid of disappointment. I was sleepy and i didn't want to 'unwrap' it in a rush.
And so i waited one more day. And in the 'grand opening' of my much anticipated new 'toy' (given it's size, it feels more like I just got given a car rather than a 'toy') my boyfriend and i lifted it out of it's styrofoam casing. And let me tell you - it did not disappoint. All 8kg of stainless steel, gleaming red, like a well engineered sports car, polished to perfection.

I think my boyfriend (being a typical guy who appreciates his 'boys toys' - he has the latest MAC after all), had bought the Kitchenaid for me partly because he could see what a fine piece of machinery it was, all macho and heavy and solid under the flourescent lights of the kitchen.

What a gift indeed. I could not stop bragging about it all week to anyone who would understand!

More Lemon and Poppy seeds!

2005-04-11T05:59:00.000-07:00

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

Continuing with the Poppy seed theme, i had promised my friend Jean that i would make her something yummy with lemon and poppy seeds (she is a fan of both ingredients!) I wanted to try a cake recipe (as opposed to a muffin recipe) and found a recipe for a Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf cake on epicurious.com that had been taken from the 'Cake Bible' (another one of those award winning books that i have since ear marked as the 'next book to buy at Borders when feeling rich').

I have to say that it was absolutely deee- licious! i loved it, and had serious trouble giving it away. The bundt pan makes them look extremely 'pretty' and it's not at all hard to make. As it turned out, i had 6 of them made and ended up bringing it to a friend's place the next day during a last minute dinner invitation, which thankfully included Jean. Thankfully because this way, i was able to fulfil my promise to her, whilst managing to share it with my generous dinner host, who had prepared a feast of tempura and soba noodles. not quite green tea ice cream, but a crowd pleaser nevertheless! (not to mention that i ended up eating 2 of them all on my own). oink!

Below is the recipe - a definite must try for anyone who enjoys a tangy dessert that has the added 'crunch' of poppy seeds.

Recipe:
All ingredients should be at room temperature.
3 tablespoons milk (1.5 ounces = 45 grams)
3 large eggs (scant 5 fluid ounces = 5.25 ounces = 150 grams, weighed without shells)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla (6 grams)
1 1/2 cups sifted cake flour (5.25 ounces = 150 grams)
3/4 cup sugar (5.25 ounces = 150 grams)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder (3.7 grams)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon loosely packed grated lemon zest (6 grams)
3 tablespoons poppy seeds (1 ounce = 28 grams)
13 tablespoons unsalted butter, must be softened (6.5 ounces = 184 grams)

Lemon Syrup1/4 + 2 tablespoons sugar (2.75 ounces = 75 grams)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 ounces = 63 grams)

Equipment
One 8-inch by 4-inch by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan (4 cups) — most attractive size — or any 6-cup loaf or fluted tube pan, greased and floured. If using a loaf pan, grease it, line the bottom with parchment or wax paper, and then grease again and flour.

Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a medium bowl lightly combine the milk, eggs, and vanilla.
In a large mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients, including the lemon zest and poppy seeds, and mix on low speed for 30 seconds to blend. Add the butter and half the egg mixture. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to medium speed (high speed if using a hand mixer) and beat for 1 minute to aerate and develop the cake's structure.
Scrape down the sides. Gradually add the remaining egg mixture in 2 batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition to incorporate the ingredients and strengthen the structure. Scrape down the sides.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with a spatula. The batter will be almost 1/2 inch from the top of a 4-cup loaf pan. (If your pan is slightly smaller, use any excess batter for cupcakes.) Bakes 55 to 65 minutes (35 to 45 minutes in a fluted tube pan) or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cover loosely with buttered foil after 30 minutes to prevent overbrowning. The cake should start to shrink from the sides of the pan only after removal from the oven.
To get an attractive split down the middle of the crust, wait until the natural split is about to develop (about 20 minutes) and then with a lightly greased sharp knife or a single-edged razor blade make a shallow mark about 6 inches long down the middle of the cake. This must be done quickly so that the oven door does not remain open very long or the cake will fall. When cake splits, it will open along the mark.
Shortly before the cake is done, prepare the Lemon Syrup:In a small pan over medium heat, stir the sugar and lemon juice until dissolved. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, place the pan on a rack, poke the cake all over with a wire tester, and brush it with 1/2 the syrup. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Loosen the sides with a spatula and invert it onto a greased wire rack. Poke the bottom of the cake with the wire tester, brush it with some syrup, and reinvert onto a greased wire rack. Brush the sides with the remaining syrup and allow to cool before wrapping airtight. Store 24 hours before eating to give the syrup a chance to distribute evenly. The syrup will keep the cake fresh a few days longer than a cake without syrup.
NOTEThis cake is very attractive made in individual portions. A 6-cake Bundt-lette pan is the perfect size. This recipe will make 6 individual cakelettes, which require about 20 minutes to bake.

FINISHED HEIGHT
In a 4-cup loaf: 2 1/4 inches at the sides and 3 1/2 inches in the middle. In a 6-cup loaf: 1 3/4 inches at the sides and 2 1/2 inches in the middle. In a 6-cup fluted tube: 2 1/4 inches in the middle.

STORE
Airtight: 3 days room temperature, 1 week refrigerated, 2 months frozen.
Complementary AdornmentA simple dusting of powdered sugar.
SERVERoom temperature.

POINTERS FOR SUCCESS
• Use cake flour that does not already contain leavening. Do not use self-rising cake flour.
• Use superfine sugar for finest texture.
• Use fresh baking powder.
• Measure or weigh ingredients carefully.
• If using a hand-held mixer, beat at high speed.
• Use the correct pan size.
• For very even layers and maximum height use Magi-Cake Strips.
• Check for accurate oven temperature.
• Use correct baking time; do not overbake.
• Be sure to use a wooden toothpick to test for doneness. The cake will spring back when pressed lightly in the center even before it is done. If the cake is underbaked, it will have tough, gummy spots instead of a fine, tender crumb.

A 'Small' Dinner

2005-04-05T08:42:00.000-07:00

2005-04-04T06:12:00.000-07:00

Roasted Vegetable Tart

2005-04-04T06:11:00.001-07:00

Brocolli Soup

2005-04-04T06:11:00.000-07:00

Green salad

2005-04-04T06:07:00.000-07:00

Barbequed chicken

'Small Saturday Night Dinner at Rick's'
Last Saturday, Rick and i thought we would get together for a quiet 'cooking session' on a Saturday night at his place. He has a cosy little kitchen that looks out to the dining table, ideal for entertaining in small groups. We had a brief conversation on Saturday morning about what we would cook. I said i had wanted to try a roasted vegetable tart i had seen in a magazine for a while now, and he said he wanted to try one of my muffins - banana walnut was his request.
He had just bought a barbeque pit from one of his recent trips back to the US, and was looking forward to experimenting with it.
i invited another girlfriend to join us - so the night involved 3 of us - cosy, no pressure, relaxed enough for us to cook at our own pace.

Rick has this knack of whipping dishes out of nowhere. Often, i would ask 'what are you cooking' -and Rick would breezily say 'oh, i'm not sure yet' and whilst i turn my back to chop the onions, there is suddenly a broccoli soup steaming on the hob, ready to be served. Like magic.

The Menu
So like magic, the menu for our casual 'small' dinner involved the following:
Broccoli Soup topped with chopped spring onions and fried shallots
Green salad with lemon olive oil dressing, sprinkled with shaved parmesan
Barbequed chicken infused with a beer and garlic thingymajig (made on brand new infuser and barbeque pit)
Roasted Vegetable Tart with a pesto base (made in brand new Williams Sonoma tart tin)
Banana and Walnut muffins (i don't have a picture of this!)

The Outcome
With a comparitively minimal amount of mess (compared that is to the mess i normally make in my kitchen) , the dinner fell together beautifully. Rick had purchased this star trek looking contraption (see pic) - i'm attempting to explain what it does, but i can't. I'm going to have to ask him to explain it. basically, you shove the marinated chicken (marinated in a chinese vinegar sauce) over this metal thing, which contains an infusion of garlic and beer - place the whole thing over the barbeque pit, and wait. The result is a chicken that doesn't taste barbequed at all - extremely tender and juicy.

There was a bit of struggle over the vegetable tart, and as usual, i needed a lot of hand holding from Rick, who introduced me to the 2 knife method of cutting the butter into the flour to make the shortcrust pastry (better alternative to rubbing fat into flour with fingers). I used rice as baking weights for the blind baking but forgot to line the pastry with tracing paper first and ended up having to scrape the rice that had embedded itself into the half baked pastry. But after a few mishaps, i dare say the end result was tasty and satisfying. The roasted vegetables included cherry tomatoes, eggplant, red onion, yellow and green peppers. Mozarella cubes were added before the final baking period, together with a generous dose of pesto sauce resulting in a cheesy hearty vegetable pie dish that masquaraded as marginally healthy (but i am most certain was not). Nevertheless, certainly a dish i will attempt again.

Cooking with Rick gives me the confidence to try things i might not normally attempt on my own. Having an 'expert' by my side gives me that much more courage. Not a 'small' dinner by any means, but worth every calorie.

The landmark dinner party

2005-04-03T23:38:00.000-07:00

An important Catalyst
When i first arrived in Singapore, i joined a gym soon after i had unpacked my worldly possessions of lycra. I was soon 'adopted' into the 'boxercise' gang, a group of friends my boyfriend had made from his frequent classes there. Punching my way into a regular 3 times a week boxercise routine, i soon met Rick, an American who was another regular of this class. As i shook his hand by the water fountain, both us sweating, him sporting a headband and a big grin, little did i know that our growing friendship thereafter would have much to do with our common love for food.

The Dinner
Our friendship started with a dinner for 4 at a fusion restaurant in Club Street. It was then that Rick mentioned that he enjoyed hosting dinner parties that would often last into the wee hours of the night. Having had limited introduction to the world of dinner parties, my experience of them had largely been comprised of a main course and cut fruit for dessert, all served on friendly ikea dinner plates and napkins. So when Rick invited my boyfriend and I over for a dinner party, i was not prepared for the lavish epicurean splendour that was to be our privilege to enjoy.

I cannot do justice to what was served that night by description alone. It was almost two years ago, but it will remain in my memory as a landmark day for the lengths people can take in understanding and enjoying the intricacies and wonders of food.
But what i can do is highlight some of the events of the night that might serve to explain a dinner party of this nature.

Firstly, Rick has a storeroom specifically for plates. We're talking ceiling to floor cupboards with matching sets of ceramic ware. It was only on one of my subsequent visits to his place that i had the priviledge of bearing witness to this cutlery storage room, throwing light on our wonder that night on how he was able to whip out the perfect cutlery for each dish served.

The Menu
I cannot remember the details of the 7 course dinner today, except that we started with a delicious vegetable soup, followed by a caesar salad. Rick made the caesar salad in front of us, explaining the importance of tearing the romaine leaves along the vein of the leaves to maintain the juiciness of the leaf (instead of cutting across the water pockets contained in the leaves), the inclusion of anchovies and the integral tool - the unbroken wooden salad bowl.
This was followed by a home made pate, and a lychee palate cleanser? (rick, if you are reading this, help me out here). Main course comprised of a pork dish (i think!) and salmon risotto.

I cannot remember how it all tasted apart from the wonderful explosion of the senses we were all submerged in. What i also remember was our unified amazement (there were 6 of us) heaped with a large dose of gob smacked wonder that we knew someone who was capable of making a home cooked dinner of this quality.

It was nothing short of a lavish celebration of food and the sheer love of it. And it made me understand that there was so much more to learn - that enjoying good food was not about merely savouring each bite, but about understanding the care that goes into the making of it, the importance of good ingredients, the subtle (and sometimes stark) differences in results from minor adjustments...

i do think this dinner was an important catalyst in my inspiration for cooking, understanding it, and my love for dinner parties (both attending and hosting them!)

Minor detail: Rick used to be a self taught chef in a restaurant in the US once upon a time.

My introduction to Poppy seeds

2005-04-02T19:29:00.001-08:00

Lemon Poppy Seed muffins

Poppy seeds are hard to come by in Singapore, and so when my boyfriend made a rececnt trtip to Melbourne, I eagerly wrote him an entire list of ingredients that were either hard to find or very expensive when found and sent him on his mission. Items included poppy seeds, pure vanilla extrtact, lindt couverture chocolate, valhrona chocolate, whole wheat flour, sweetened dessicated coconut and er.. Kitchenaid stand mixer (the latter was probably a bit of a tall order, but it was a wish list after all!)

What are Poppy seeds?

Poppy is the dried, kidney-shaped seed of the annual Papaver somniferum. The seeds are very small in size, slate blue in color and are nut-like in flavor.
Poppy Seed is used topically on breads and rolls, and added to vegetables and salad dressings. Turkish cuisine uses toasted Poppy Seeds, while Indian and Turkish spice blends rely on crushed Poppy Seeds for flavor and texture.

Origins
Poppy Seed is produced in various countries including the Netherlands, Australia, Romania and Turkey. The Dutch variety, noted for its uniform slate blue color, is recognized as the best quality seed and comprises most imports into the United States.

Poppy seed has been cultivated for over 3,000 years. The tiny poppy seed actually comes from the plant that produces opium. The botanical name for the poppy flower means "sleep bearing." Poppies were even used in the Wizard of Oz to put Dorothy to sleep. The seed does not have this effect. Poppy seed was used as a condiment as early as the first century A.D. The red poppy flower has been the symbol of fallen warriors throughout history and was adopted as the emblem to commemorate Veterans Day in the United States.

Baking with Poppy seeds
With my new bag of poppy seeds, i proceeded to bake a batch of lemon poppy seed muffins last night. This recipe called for a 1/2 cup of yellow cornmeal - i have yet to experiment on a batch without conrmeal (first time i have ever used it), but the recipe said 'we wanted a very moist and a little tangy muffin that takes full advantage of the earthy sweetness of the poppy seeds. The secret is a touch of cornmeal, which balances the delicate seeds perfectly.'

The result of this recipe wasn't quite sweet enough, so i proceeded to include a lemon syrup topping (2 tablespoons sugar and juice from half a lemon), heating it until melted and slightly caramelised, spooning it over the muffin for a thin layer of barely visible glaze.
I should probably know this, but doing this - i realised that icing sugar made for a more obvious glaze (see lime and yoghurrt cupcakes) whilst granulated sugar results in a barely visible glaze. So if you don't want to mask the 'look' of whatever you're trying to put icing on, use granulated sugar instead of icing sugar.
With the syrup topping, it was perfect. Light, slightly tangy, with the poppy seeds lending the muffins a slightly crunchy texture. Poppy seeds are meant to have a nutty aroma and texture, but i'm not sure i can honestly describe the result as 'nutty' in my muffins.

I also used pure vanilla extract for the first time - i can't tell what difference it has made, but i'm convinced given the number of times cook books have stressed on its superior quality (over vanilla flavouring), there must be some serious value in the stuff. Not forgetting a good reason why i had made my boyfriend lug back 7 bottles worth!

Muffin voyeur

2005-04-02T19:29:00.000-08:00

Orange Choc Chip muffins

For the first time this morning, i sat at the cafe after i delivered my muffins, trying to look nonchalant as i sipped on a latte, watching out of the corner of my eye for my first muffin customer! (muffin voyeur at work)! I wanted to know who were the kind of people who were eating them - was it ordered with a look of glee, or absent mindedly, as an afterthought. Was it a temptation that they had caved in to on a Sunday morning, or all that they had wanted with their morning coffee. As it turned out, the first order came from a table that were too far away for me to know the 'negotiations' of the menu before it's eventual conclusion. I saw them being whisked out to 2 little girls, who were accompanied by their mindful parents. They had ordered the Orange Choc Chip muffins. i had made these as a complement to the lemon poppy seeds - one universally likeable, the other a bit more contemporary. I do believe lemon poppy seed muffins are for a certain 'type' of person. I imagine the literary types, the creative types - mostly female, well travelled, a little short of mainstream, possibly bohemian.

And the kids love Orange Chocolate chip muffins. And i'm begining to wonder whether it's the families with kids that end up being the end consumer of my midnight projects. In which case i could try expanding my experiments to include more chocolate based muffins - not coffee (parents don't approve of coffee for kids) - but definiely the 'fun' range. in fact, perhaps i should consider pastel iced 'cup cakes' and label them 'kids fun corner' for the families.
Another thought for another weekend...

p.s. these orange chocolate chip muffins were actually a disaster. They should not look like this - hardly detectable for its actual variety. They should look distinctly orange, with accents of chocolate chips - instead of a giant chocolate lump with strange odd coloured lumps in its midst.
Truth was that i had spooned in the batter into the muffin tins, pushed it into the oven, only to realise 5 minutes in that i had forgotten to add in the sugar. In panic, I had pulled the muffin tin back out of the oven, and dumped in the forgotten 3/4 cup of sugar, only to find that the choc chips had started melting into the batter to form a marbled effect. The end result was still pretty good (Taste wise), but certainly not the presentation! Lucky thing kids are forgiving.

The best gift

2005-03-27T01:21:00.000-08:00

Choc Chip cookies

Roll the words 'chocolate Chip cookies' off your tongue and you have conjured a world of comfort, innocence and sweet, pure happiness.
So what better way to make someone smile than with your very own home made chocolate chip cookies. What you see in the picture is this Sunday's inspiration. These chocolate chip cookies were made 'post' running in the rain with a plastic bag over my head, sharing an umbrella with a kind soul at the pedestrian traffic lights ('have a great day' she called out to me after i left the safe confines of her umbrella) - and getting back half drenched, but 100% happy to have the rest of the Sunday afternoon to myself.
This is my fourth attempt at this recipe. It was taken from a book by Carole Walter called 'Great cookies'. I chanced upon this book in borders, and was discovered by my boyfriend tucked away in a corner of the book shop salivating over the pictures. I had never had big aspirations to be a cookie expert, but this book was not going to let me go - so i had to have it. On the hard back cover of this book, it proudly claims that 'Carole Walter' is the winner of the James beard award ( i'm not sure what that means - in my ignorancec, i'm going to interprete it as the nobel prize for cookie authors) - and so this book will be my bible for all cookies in all shapes and sizes (and there are so many recipes to choose from here!)
The first time i ever made these cookies, they spread after baking. I soon discovered that this usually means there is too much moisture in the dough - and refrigerating the dough for a bit helps to solve this problem (and it does!) The dark chocolate bits you see in the picture were chopped up pieces of dark toblerone that were my spontaneous attempt at 'cookie' dressing.
I find that the chocolate chips never rise to the surface the way they do in the pictures of recipe books and one needs to manually do it by hand to achieve that model cookie 'look'.

There is something so sweet about the smell of cookies wafting out of the oven. Opening the oven door every few minutes (you are not supposed to do this i'm sure) out of sheer impatience and watching them progressively crisp around the edges to a golden honey brown.

I am still trying to perfect the choclate chip cookie - thus far - the first one barely 5 minutes out of the oven (oh who am i kidding - 10 seconds out of the oven!) is the most divine. Overnight, they really don't taste half as good. I don't think i have made the 'perfect' cookie just yet - i will know it once i have tried it. I am certain the first bite of my perfect chocolate chip cookie will be like an exploding epiphany.

Having said that, i packed these off in an air tight jar to a friend who's eyes light up like no one other i have seen in the presence of chocolate (in hindsight, i probably needn't have bothered with the air tight jar -i doubt they would have lasted beyond a few hours!)
The big smile, the glee,the sheer delight on his face as he crams an entire cookie in his mouth is enough for me to make them again and again.

2005-03-20T03:20:00.000-08:00

lime yoghurt cupcakes

Tea time!

2005-03-19T21:51:00.000-08:00

lime and yoghurt cupcakes
I had organised an event for work this Sunday for the West Highland Terrier club (i do marketing for pet brands ). It was to be an outdoor tea party for about 15 Westie dogs and their owners. I had organised a set menu with the owner of the cafe, but thought that I would contribute to a dessert. The menu to be provided by the cafe involved the following:
Fried Chicken in wasabi mayo dip
Smoked Salmon Sandwiches
Cucumber and Butter sandwiches
Egg Mayo Sandwiches
Mushrooms on a puff pastry
Italian Meatballs in a tomato ragu
Brownies

I thought we might neeed another sweet, but something lighter to complement the brownie. Between making scones for the first time or trying a cup cake, i opted out of scones because of the fiddly nature of having to deal with butter and jam. Besides, a scone didn't seem quite like the best option to complement a brownie.

I had seem the recipe for a lemon and yoghurt loaf cake in "Delicous" magazine, and had copied the recipe on a paper napkina couple of weeks back. Instead of making it in a loaf pan, i decided it would be nicer for a cosy group to make them in muffin tins instead. Save the neeed for portioning the loaf.

This recipe required a surprisingly large amount of butter (almost an entire block!) and natural yoghurt. Overall, a very straightforward recipe with excellent results. The yoghurt gave it a richer moist texture - dense and less fluffy than other lighter sponge cakes, but very tender with a hint of lime. The next time, i might try it with a little more lime zest (the recipe only asked for 1 and a half tblspoons).

The Westie club owners looked surprised when i told them i had made these cupcakes, and proceeded to say how lovely they were (but i suppose they were forced into saying so after i had proudly claimed ownership to its creation!)

LIME & YOGHURT LOAF CAKE
Ingredients:
200g butter, melted & cooled
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
2 ggs
1 cup natural yoghurt
1/4 cup lim ejuice
1 1/2 tablespoon finely grated lime rind
2 1/2 cup plain flour
2 tablespoons baking powder

Icing:
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoons water

Preheat oven to 160c. Place the melted butter and sugar in a bowl & whisk to combine. Add eggs, one at a time, whisking to combine. Whisk in yoghurt, lime juice & lime rind until smooth. Sift together the flour & baking powder & stir into the lime mixture until smooh.
Spoon mixture into a 10 x 20cm greased and lined loaf tin. Bake the cake for 1hr and 15 mins or until cooked through when testeed with a skewer. Cool before making icing.
To make icing, mix icing sugar, lime juice and water until combined.

Remove cake from tin & spoon over the icing.

Chocolate chip Muffins

2005-03-18T20:01:00.000-08:00

Choc Chip Muffins
Third week's delivery of my muffins, and i thought i'd try to perfect the chocolate chip muffin.
This recipe called for sour cream - which i left out - but apart from that, i followed everything to the last detail. I am still unsure of what benefit comes from using sour cream - i can't be bothered to head out and buy it (as i have no other use for it) , so if anyone has any idea, i would love to hear about it.

Another thing i did which the recipes don't tell you is to dot the batter in their filled muffin tins with a few chocolate chips before it goes in the oven. Pure presentation purposes, but it looks so much better.

This recipe also called for you to whip the egg whites until stiff and fold it in in the last step - which apparently gives the texture of the muffin a 'lift'. The end result was good - it was a little less buttery than i would have liked, but definitely a keeper.

Muffin mishaps

2005-03-17T17:10:00.000-08:00

My love for muffins started when I was in university in Nottingham, and would grab a chocolate chip orange muffin, thinking that by choosing it over a chocolate bar, i had made the right choice. This muffin had the perfect combination of the tangy sweetness of oranges, and the deep richness of dark chocolate. There was undoubtedly a muffin factory churning these out, because they came in their celophane wrappings that looked exactly like the muffins i saw in every other sweet shop in the UK. Clearly, i was not a muffin conniseur at this juncture in my life ( it was during a time when i would toss myself a bowl of spaghetti with baked beans and pesto sauce and call it a real attempt at a home made banquet)!
Perhaps if i had tried the same muffin today, i would poo poo it for it's 'mass produced' flavour and it's lack of real ingredients.

A brief History
English Muffins are not the same as the more popular 'American' muffins. Legend has it that an English baker named Samuel B. Thomas started making English muffins in the 10th or 11th Century. These were best described as flat chewy things that were yeast raised and baked on a griddle. Crunchy when toasted, English muffins were often eaten with a generous glob of butter.

The American version are also often referred to as 'quick breads'. I expect they are called as such because they are not raised by yeast, but by egg and baking powder (chemically leavened as opposed to yeast leavened). Apparently these muffins were not developed until the end of the 18th Century, after which a ton of them must have been imported into Europe. (Trivia: baking powder was not developed commercially until 1857)

My intimate relationship with Muffins
Post university, i would ocassionally grab a muffin with a coffee. I didn't give it much thought, apart from the fact that it seemed like a pretty nice snack - not as bad as grabbing that cheesecake. But here's the truth of the matter -it must've been someone's brilliant marketing campaign to call muffins 'muffins' to make people feel better about the fact that they weren't ordering themselves a piece of cake for breakfast. But face it - muffins ARE cakes. They use the same ingredients, with some minor tweaks (sieve the flour for the more 'cakey' texture, ) but change the shape - and it's a cake! So for those of you who grab a muffin every morning for breakfast - you're having CAKE to start your day. But hey - certainly nothing wrong with that!

My intimate relationship with muffins started like this - i would order a cake (masquerading as a muffin) occassionally at one of my favourite cafe's in Singapore. One day - the cafe owner told me she didn't sell muffins anymore because the girl who used to sell them had left. So 2 weeks later, as i was sipping on a tea, muffinless - i went up to the cafe owner and proposed that i bake a batch and bring if over to see if she could sell them. i was all braced for rejection, but to my surprise she said 'why not'
and so a muffin baking frenzy was born.

Muffin frenzy
I had baked muffins in the past, but very non committally and with often varying results. Some had turned out well, some were hard as rubber. i did not have a fool proof method. I had one muffin recipe in my donna hay cookbook - the rest were print outs from the website. The first step was clear - to buy an entire book on muffins! The one i finally picked had a wide variety of recipes listed in alphabetical order. The author's foreword suggested that they had experimented on different versions a million times over and had finally published the ones they felt were sure winners. I was ready to go!
My first experiment (the night before my first Sunday delivery) was the safe and sure win -choc chip muffins. The first batch were a disaster. They didn't rise, and came out textured like scones. Edible, but not a muffin. I brought them to a dinner party anyway, and everyone ate them (chocolate chip scones aren't bad) but concluded that they certainly didn't look like or taste like muffins.
Hurrying home after dinner (at midnight) i quickly read in my muffin book that baking powder didn't last beyond 3 months - mine had been sitting in my cupboard for 9 months. i opened up my new bottle of baking powder and tried the 'fail or die' batch early Sunday morning. They rose - looked like muffins, albeit small because the only muffin tin i had were small sized muffin. Cafe owner looked pleased - but said they needed to be twice their size - and proceeded to serve two muffins per order. i had made 6 muffins - all of 3 people ordered them and they were gone in a flash! I was encouraged! it was a sell out!

Twice their size
Logic would have it that bigger muffin tins make bigger muffins. And so they do. i bought a 'jumbo sized' muffin tin - that certainly got the job done. But my next challenge was: how do those bakeries get muffins that seem to 'explode' over the top with mushroom shaped heads? Trick is: Fill it up to the top of the muffin hole. Most recipes tell you to fill up 3/4 of the way - just be generous and fill it up to the top. they spill over the top and mushroom out in billowing glory - and look like the real deal.
Note: It might seem obvious, but bigger muffin tins mean longer baking times - so give it more time or the centre will end up soggy.

The following week, i went into a frenzy, experimenting with banana muffins, oatmeal raisin muffins, oatmeal raisin and choc chip muffins (latter doesn't work - simply too many ingredients in the batter - weighs it down and makes it taste stodgy) - muffin holes filled all the way to the top , filled 3/4 full, with nut crunch topping, with oatmeal topping, without topping.
I had to find a container that was quickly labeled 'where muffins go to die' . My boyfriend and i were opening them up to look at how 'porous' they were (some of them came out dense - some came out with just the right number of air bubbles).

I concluded that i didn't want muffins with the mushroom heads after all. They came out far too heavy and big for Singaporean sensibilities (i suspect some might very well know that a muffin is actually a cake), and have since settled on the jumbo tins, filled 3/4 of the way.

After 3 days of experimentation, i decided i was ready. The cafe owner finally called me on Saturday to say she'd be happy for me to make 12 muffins for Sunday. So my mission was clear - one batch would be oatmeal and raisin (with walnut topping), the other banana with choc chip topping. Unfortunately, the Oatmeal and raisin came out looking burned, which mystified me. I had a brand new oven temperature gauge - everything had been the same as the last successful attempt, so why did it end up burned this time round?

The banana muffins came out of the oven looking glorious. Sturdy and golden, with large domed tops. I had only six to deliver the next day, but i had my boyfriend trying to convince me the entire night that it was not safe to deliver all six without at least trying one. ('i know it looks good, but what if the texture is really dense? or if it's wet on the inside? if it tastes bad, no one will ever order a muffin from the cafe again and there goes your business. really! don't take the risk! you must try it! ' - imagine this speech on repeat for the duration of 30 mins - i am not kidding, he was convinced on this risk averse strategy) I dismissed his theory, convinced it was his sly scheme to have a bite of my most succesful creation so far. But the next morning - i decided that maybe it was best to try. I broke one in half and savoured it. it was perfect, with moist crumbly texture, made even more tender by the bananas. i was ready to go! I whisked them away to the cafe - with only 5 muffins in hand!

They were once again sold out (not hard i guess!) and the cafe owner presented me with a huge plastic storage container - 'so you don't have to bring it on a plate the next time'. The next time! she told me both Saturdays and Sundays were good for muffin orders - 12 muffins per day was the magic number. I had secured a business! (at about $9 profit per day) .

I suppose this is first and foremost a passion. and the next time i deliver them, i'm going to sit at the cafe and watch people ordering and savouring them bite by bite. It will be my week's delivery of satisfaction. The muffin voyeur.

The beginnings

2005-03-15T23:01:00.000-08:00

The intention of this blog is to share my baking and cooking adventures with all who share my love for food, and my new awakening into the world of wonderful (and sometimes disastrous!) creations.

The Beginnings
My love for cooking started when i moved out into my own rented place in Singapore, and could finally proudly call A kitchen 'my own'. Back home (in Malaysia), my mother's kitchen was not one that i could ever imagine taking over (and i think i speak for everyone who has a mother that cooks). They were her sauces, her spices, her carefully picked blender of 20 years. I will always have an eternal memory of her hovering nervously in the bakground on the few ocassions (mostly as a child) I have made a mess of her kitchen (making chocolate coated banana's was one such memory)

But with a kitchen of my own - a budding cook, for better or worse was born!
It's a basic kitchen wih basic utensils. To date, i still don't own a food processor, and lust after a Kitchenaid stand mixer, which i have been told are the 'MAC's' of the kitchen stand world. I have a tiny oven that doesn't fit large cookie sheets ( i bought 2 last week after stumbling upon a recommended shiny aluminium cookie sheet, clutching it to my chest as i rushed to the check out counter) - only to find when i got home that i couldn't jam it into my little faithful (but all too small ) oven.

On kitchen equipment alone, i have progressed in leaps and bounds. I still recall the look of shock on my friend Jean's face as i proudly told her I was making her orange almond cup cakes for dessert, proceeding then to measure out cups of flour in my black coffee mug (thinking that my coffee mug was as good a representation of a '1 cup' as any). So i must thank her for my first ever measuring cups (1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup and 1/4cup!) and measuring spoons that i now cannot imagine living without!
Cooking, baking, the science and the art of it - has been an eye opener. and i feel compelled to write about it.

So for those of you who are reading this, don't expect an expert's advice on recipes or cooking techniques. I'm not an experienced cook by any means - and certainly not a trained one. It is a site about my continuing education in the wondrous world of food - of its creation, of my many mishaps, discoveries and delightful experiences. And i certainly hope you can share yours with me too.

The word 'epicurean' is defined as 'Devoted to the pursuit of sensual pleasure, especially to the enjoyment of good food and comfort.' And so this is what i will write about - and what spurs me on to cook, to create, to innovate and of course - to eat!

My first cookbook
I came to Singapore 2 years ago with 1 cookbook. It was a farewell present from a friend - her way of 'sending me off ' into my adult working world of independence. The book was called "PASTA".
My first recipe adventure from the pristine pages of this new hard cover book (with wonderful photo's of steaming pots of pasta) was a bacon and tomato penne pasta with a topping of freshly grated parmesan. I invited 2 girlfriends over and my boyfriend. It was a total success - i basked in their company, and watched them devouring their dinner with enthusiasm. And i was hooked.

I now have a fast growing collection of cookbooks that i'm beginning to suspect has become a bit of an addiction. During a particularly trying period at work ( i have a day job as a marketing / brand manager), i discovered the therapeutic properties of reading cook books to sleep. If there was a more apt definition of 'comfort' in my world, it would be about 'reading cook books in bed'. Reading about food is sensous, it fills you with a warmth that sort of starts as a nudge of longing in the stomach, but one that quickly spreads and envelopes you like a warm cup of hot chocolate.

I can't walk into Borders now without failing to browse the cook book shelves. The shelves don't change from day to day, but I'm still there - faithfully looking through the books I can't bear to buy, the books i think i might have missed, the books that i think might one day fall at my feet like a silent calling. I'm looking for another excuse to give in to temptation, to add to my growing collection.

i have gone on - and i haven't even started. now we have the background - let's get cracking on my cooking adventures!