A Feast in the Making - Part III

The day of the dinner party. I was stressed, nervous and pumped!

But let me just say that my respect for chefs and caterers has tripled! I cooked dinner for 15pax, spent 2 full days in the kitchen and I was utterly exhausted by the end of it. I was so tired I wanted to puke and I couldn't feel my legs. You smell like the kitchen for at least a week, and that's only if you don't cook afterwards; else the smells will just linger around you. Your hands, your hair and just the entire you. And no matter how many showers you take you still smell like garlic, onions and stews. THUMBS UP to those who dedicated their lives to this sport! Yes, cooking is a very complicated sport ... that I still love very much despite of all the muscle pains. I love feeding people.

Anyways, I woke up to a gorgeous sunny morning. Though I woke up to construction workers chit chatting outside my window while they were building the 'pang' with the bamboos. Yes, is unfortunate. The tenants at the building have decided to revamp and renovate, starting with the exterior walls of the building. An 8-month project, which my parents and I totally feel played by our landlord for not letting us know while we signed the lease. Anyways, I will save this story for another time.

I set my alarm for 9:00am. Still lots to do even though I cooked all day the day before. I'd say I've made 50% of the meal - beef stew, duck, soup, parmesan crackers and fillings for my quiches. So I started my day with a big cup of coffee and a good breakfast. I sat down and enjoyed my brekkie because I didn't want to feel burned out in the middle of cooking. I've done that before. My relatives came for dinner (20+) and for whatever reason, I got really fed up cooking and I just stopped. I let my aunt cooked the rest of it that day. I was just so tired and whatever I was making just didn't taste good. I was not going to let this happen again today! I began cooking at 10am.

Having a sharp knife makes your life much easier in the kitchen.

I started assembling my quiches and baking them off since quiches can be served at room temperature or you can quickly pop them back in the oven to reheat just before serving.

I know, is not very pretty.

Here's my basic quiche recipe:

Prepare your pie dough, either get the store bought short crust pastry or make your own Pate Brisee. Blind bake them first in a 220C/425F oven for 5-7mins. Remove the pie weights or whatever you are using to weigh the dough down. Brush with egg wash and continue to bake for about 7minss. Let cool slightly.



Filling:
3 large eggs
175ml heavy cream
2-3 handfuls of grated cheese of your choice - Gruyere, Swiss, Gouda are common in quiches
salt and pepper to taste
Any kind of herbs that match the main ingredients of your quiche
*stir everything together + whatever else you chooses to put into your quiche.

Quiches are like pizzas. Is a very forgiving dish and you can put whatever you want into your quiche (let's you clear out your fridge). Here are some suggestions: asparagus, ham, sun dried tomatoes, olives, artichokes, mushroom, spinach ... and the list goes on and on.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pie crust and bake for 20mins in oven. Turn down the heat to about 180C/375F and bake for another 15-20mins until firm, golden brown and a bit puffy.

Cut up quiches to bite size pieces

A Feast in the Making - Part II

I have finalized my menu for my up coming buffet dinner for this Saturday. I think I've overestimated my ability to cook for a crowd with my original plan - 4 starters, 6 mains, 2 dessert. So I've scaled it down a little but will increase the portion of each dish. Also, this meal is to let my friends taste what I've learned and tasted during my Europe trip.

Most of the below dishes can be made a day in advanced and some can be prepared up to a certain stage and you can assemble it the day of the party. I will provide the recipes once I have some photos.

Now let's talk portion control cause really, when you are serving a crowd, the hardest thing is figuring out how much of each dish do you make - you don't want to be over ambitious and cook a crap load of food with a lot of leftovers; but you don't want to leave your guests only 50% satisfied. Some factors that affect how much food you make for a party: time of day (ex. afternoon tea or dinner), style of your party (ex. cocktail party or baby shower) type of food served (ex. all finger food or 5-course dinner), the people you will be feeding (ex. teenagers with unbelievably high metabolism or ladies who are watching their diets).

My party is going to be: housewarming dinner, buffet style, 15 grown ups - guy girl ratio 50:50.

Now, onto planning the menu and the rest of the game plan. This is usually how I figure out how much food to make. Think of a one-person portion of a 5-course meal at a restaurant. You often will get:

1) On-the-house canapes, say 1-2 pieces. And/or you get a fancy bread basket, filled with gourmet breads which you always can never stop eating.

2) Appetizer (around 6 - 8 bites. why so specific you ask? think about it, you get a tuna tartare with a few toasts on the side. I am pretty sure you can only get max. of 8 bites of that dish. OR if when you order mussels in white wine sauce to share, i really doubt you will eat more than 8 mussels with or without bread to mop up the sauce).

3) Soup (3/4 to 1 of a cup) / Salad (a little more than a handful of salad greens, lightly dressed).

A Pleasant Surprise

You hear quite a few wine pairings with Chinese/Asian cuisine these days. And just a few days ago, I received an email from Lifestyle Asia saying that they will be having a new biweekly column on Asian food pairing with new world wines called "The Flavours of Asia". Tastings and pairings will be done by local experts with the finest palates invited by Moët Hennessy Asia Pacific.

I've actually done a few at KEE where we hosted dim sum lunch and paired with various different wines, with wine makers explaining why it works and with the chefs commenting on how he got his inspirations on matching spring rolls with a glass of light pinot gris.

Anyways, before I get too far off topic, this post is about an awesome discovery for me, one of the few posts about chinese food & wine pairing. Apparently, the Chinese Thousand Year Old Egg (皮蛋 / Pidan) with pickled ginger pair rather well with red wines (and sweet whites too). This is of course not a new discovery/delicacy as Yung Kee (famous for their thousand year old eggs as well as roast goose) has been serving their guests this combo for awhile.

But is an 'omgosh' moment for me. Reaction was "@*$#&(#_)*^&%@&$)@!".

Red wine & pidan wor. Dim duk ga. cannot la! But if Yung Kee is serving this proudly, there's gotta be some truth behind this.

I finally had a chance to try it tonight and it was indeed a very pleasant surprise. Why I think the flavours work together is because of science. Through preserving, the thousand year old egg has a higher alkaline level (higher pH balance makes this a 'base'). And that's why when you eat it with the pickled ginger, which has a low pH balance and is a 'acid', the base and the acid neutralize each other, creating a very well-balanced taste. The wine in this case is the acid.

For this combo, you should drink midrange red wines, with medium to full bodied. Don't go break you bank and buy yourself a pricey red wine. I have a bottle of Spanish wine from the Rioja region - LAN, Gran Reserva, 2003. I first took a bite of the egg without the pickled ginger and then took a sip of wine. The wine took away the very pungent and sharp taste of the thousand year old egg. You know sometimes these Pidan can leave your throat kinda dryish? The wine took away that sensation. And what did the egg do to the wine? Well, it decreased the tannin of the wine and so I didn't have that funny coating in my mouth. I guess you can compare it to wine and cheese. The 2nd bite I added the pickled ginger which was so much better! An explosion of very complex flavours in your mouth, swirling around. The pickled ginger brought out more flavor from the Pidan, and then you have the flavor of the wine ... that was my confirmed 'omgosh' moment! The pickled ginger is equivalent to the quince jelly or the grapes that come with the cheese platter. Pidan is the Chinese cheese in this case.

Try it. Is quite tasty!

I apologize for not being able to give you a better description on this flavor combo. I just don't have the words to describe it!! JUST TRY IT.

But taking a bite of the pidan and then quickly take a sip of wine isn't a very classy thing to do. You get that mucky lip print around the rim of your glass and you can't slurp your wine with food in your mouth. The whole thing can get messy.

And so, this calls for brainstorming a dish that would incorporate red wine, pidan and pickled ginger.

Think, think, think.

You can't cook the pidan because you need the gooey, creamy yolk for this to work. I don't know if you make a thick red wine reduction sauce and drizzle it onto the pidan will have the same effect as drinking the wine since cooking takes away the alcohol in the wine and I don't know if this will change the pH level of the wine. You can't just reduce the wine half way and still have the 'sauce' very watery. You don't want your dish to look like as if the pidan is drowning in watery grape juice. Presentation counts. I also thought about soaking the pidan in red wine for days just like the traditional 'tea leaves eggs'. I could give this a go.

But if I can think of a dish that can preserve the original state of these 3 ingredients, that would be great, wouldn't it? And THANK YOU to watching way too many episodes of Heston's Feast, having eaten at Bo Innovation and having been around Chef B while working at KEE ... I've got it. I present to you ...

Thousand Year Old Egg with Red Wine Caviar and Pickled Ginger Crisp

I coloured it cause it looks nicer. This is my food diary btw.

Basically, you use the molecular cuisine techniques and turn the red wine into 'caviar' - which I do know how to make, but I just don't have the ingredients to do it. So when you bite into them, breaking the very thin layer of 'skin' encapsulating the liquid, you get a burst of red wine in your mouth, along with the pidan and pickled ginger. Present this on a tiny little Chinese soup spoon. Is like that Xiaolongbao @ Bo Innovation by Alvin. This little drawing of mine doesn't show how you can turn pickled ginger into pickled ginger crisp because I don't know how!! But I am pretty sure you can turn anything into crisp by extracting the flavor and just do some molecular thingy to it.

People, get me a molecular gastronomy cooking kit please!!!

p.s. I wonder if cheese would go well with Chinese Xiao Shing wine or Wu Liang Yi.

A Feast in the Making

Occasion:
Housewarming (a VERY belated one)

Date:
Saturday, 26 February

Time:
4pm onwards

Place:
My Home

No. of Guests:
15

Mission:
To whip up a buffet dinner that will feed 15 big eaters along with ample amounts of wines, entertainment and be a collected and calm cook & hostess for the evening

Game Plan:
* Four appetizers/snacks + Six mains + 2 side dishes + 2 desserts (tentative)
* Think of dishes that can be made a day ahead and those that freeze well
* Cook things that I have made before - now is not the time to experiment
* Dishes must be filling
* Dietary requirements: No mushrooms, no Chinese parsley & chives, 2 guests don't eat beef and 2 guests don't eat lamb, nothing too fishy

Note to self:
Don't Freak Out

Stay tuned for the menu. Hopefully I will remember to take pictures of the dishes before sending them out the kitchen. With for sure chaos, I can't guarantee anything.

At the Table with Elizabeth David

Elizabeth David, who I think is the Julia Child of Britain, was an inspirational writer who brought French and Italian cooking into the British home. She discovered her taste for good food and wine when she lived with a French family while studying history and literature at the Sorbonne.

Most of her early food journeys and experiences in the culinary world were during the onset of the second world war. From fleeing the German occupation of France; leaving Antibes for Corsica and then onto Italy; eventually being deported to Greece; living on the Greek island of Syros; fled to Crete when the Germans invaded Greece; rescued by the British and evacuated to Egypt, where she lived firstly in Alexandria and later in Cairo. Elizabeth David had travelled all around the Mediterranean and she even went to India for awhile.

Living what can only be described as an extraordinary life, Elizabeth David discovered the joy and pleasure of cooking. Her encounters with food were sensual, exciting and honest. These were included in her first book 'Mediterranean Cooking', published in 1950, a time when rationing was still going on in Britain and essential ingredients for a good meal were pretty much unattainable. Reading David's book was a way to free the British from the frustration of not being able to get what they wanted. It brought them warmth & comfort thinking about real food cooked with butter, olive oil, eggs and dishes flavored with all kinds of herbs, spices, garlic and onions.

Browsing through Hager Books in Kerrisdale (Vancouver) last summer, I was very lucky to have found the second revised edition (1965) of this book, now called 'A Book of Mediterranean Food'. After only reading the first chapter of this book on 'Soups', I knew right away that Elizabeth David is going to give me the true essence of Mediterranean cooking - unpolished, authentic and striped to its core. Every chapter begins with a quote, an excerpt from an article or a letter to a friend, giving you a taste of what's to come next.

Here's a glimpse of the introduction to get you started:

"It is honest cooking, too; none of the sham Grande Cuisine of the International Palace Hotel. ...The ever recurring elements in the food throughout these countries are the oil, the saffron, the garlic, the pungent local wines; the aromatic perfume of rosemary, wild marjoram, and basil drying in the kitchens; the brilliance of the market stalls piled high with pimentos, aubergines, tomatoes, olives, melons, figs and limes; the great heaps of shiny fish ... the butchers' stalls are festooned with every imaginable portion of the inside of every edible animal (anyone who has lived for long in Greece will be familiar with the sound of air gruesomely whistling through sheep's lungs frying in oil)."

The book is divided into 11 sections, filled with delightful dishes. The recipes are delivered in a way that is informal and very approachable even when Elizabeth David is talking about how to tackle and stuff an entire sheep. Some recipes were left untranslated, such as Gigot a la Provencale - left in its original French. Since each chapter is filled with a repertoire of recipes from all over the Mediterranean, you can easily see the difference between an Italian beef stew (Boeuf a l'Italienne) and a Greek ragout/stew (Stiphado). Sometimes the difference is just whether lard was used in place of olive oil or whether the recipe called for thyme or marjoram.

For more classic dishes, such as the Bouillabaisse, Elizabeth David took the time to detailedly explain the origins of the dish and what the traditional ingredients were, as she said, "We have rather prolonged this article but this demonstration was necessary; out of ten cookery books nine will give it incorrectly".

One of my favourite recipes in this book is the Cassoulet Toulousain, in the 'Substantial Dishes' chapter. This is a great dish which French regional cookery has produced and Elizabeth David has eloquently told the story behind it. It is perhaps the most typical of true country food, the genuine, abundant, earthy, richly flavoured and patently simmered dish of the ideal farmhouse kitchen. This is a dish that I don't think I will be able to make as "tinned beans and sausages served in an earthenware casserole do not, alas, constitute a cassoulet". But just reading about it makes me happy in this cold and rainy day.

I can go on and on about this wonderful book and can't wait to read the rest of her works. With a total of 9 published books, Elizabeth David has changed the outlook of English cooks forever.

I've Got No Game

"Look around you ... you are the only one in the group without a boyfriend". I repeated this line to myself as Victor continued to type on skype, giving me his two cents on why I am still single. "You are not active enough and you have no game".

Brutal.

Ouch.

But I appreciate the honesty.

I thought about it long and hard after my late night convo with him and I don't disagree with him. The problem, he said, is I blend into to the background very easily and I am just not that memorable. He suggested showing a little bit more passion towards the things I love. Talk about it, make a story out of what I love - food. My blog. With all that said, I still think why would anyone want to hear me blab about my blog? That's just being totally self absorbed.

I pondered some more over the idea of how "I've Got No Game" and thought back to the times on how I made my exs fall for me - all of 2 exs and random dates here and there. I've been told that a girl is totally charming and irresistible when she gets really excited talking about the things that she is passionate about. The enthusiasm shines through, her eyes sparkle and that big smile on her face, my friend, is the 'hook'. You tell your stories with confidence (in my case, a glass of wine or 2 helps), throw in a little humour, and that is sexy to a man.

The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.

I am not sure if I am supposed to take this quote metaphorically or what. But I am taking it literally. That's my game. It worked before, it should still work now.

1. Baking cookies makes me friends. Once I've given them cookies, they will have to call or email or the very least whatsapp me to thank me for the treats.

2. Talk about recent Europe foodie trip. He will be fascinated and in awe (and secretly impressed) that I went alone because it shows that I can take care of myself. Guys like girls who can do things by themselves - being independent wor.

3. No.2 will then lead to "you must let me try your cooking sometime" - if the guy is interested, the next date is secured.

4. Talk about food that men in general love to eat and drop hints that you know how to make them. Men love their meat & beer. Tell him about a time you made killer ribs for a friend's birthday and brought along 6 different kinds of beer/lager/ale as his birthday present. Your date will adore you.

5. Do not talk about the fancy meals that you know how to make or that you are planning to make for him if is only date no.2. Be humble. Guys scare easy. If they realize that you are going to put so much effort into making him a gourmet meal when is only date no.3, they wont't know how to handle it and will flee.

6. Not the perfect first date if your guy brings you to Dem Bones (a restaurant in yvr, famous for ribs and food that needs no utensils and you'll be wearing a bib. Sadly, it no longer exists). But if you can carry yourself throughout the date with grace while eating with your bare hands and licking your fingers and not complain, you've scored.

7. Eat real food. Enjoy that plate of food in front of you. Eat those strips of bacon. Don't pat the grease off your slice of pizza. Don't eat chicken wings with a knife and a fork. I find that if you eat what they eat, the guy will know that you feel comfortable around him. That's important.

How about that, I came up with 7 ideas to start with. Not a bad day after all.

Confidence Restored

After last week's baking disasters, I finally redeemed myself with some peanut butter & chocolate chips cookies and oatmeal cranberries cookies.

You know sometimes you just have this big craving for some Reese's peanut butter cups? Well since I am in HK and they don't sell them here (how could they!) I had to look for alternatives that would stop this specific, intense sugar fix. Luckily, I came across this wonderful recipe that uses a cup's worth of peanut butter. *evil grin*

I followed the recipe exactly the first time around and found the cookies a bit too sweet for my taste and the peanut butter flavor a bit too strong. But nonetheless, these cookies were still as sinful as ever. You will totally forget your calorie count once you tasted these.

Anyways, I changed the quantities of the ingredients slightly this time, and they came out perfect (at least to me).

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chips Cookies
(recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

*Makes about 24 cookies
1 1/4C all purpose flour
3/4t baking soda
1/2t baking powder
1/4t salt
1/2C butter, room temperature
3/4C smooth or chunky peanut butter
1/2C white sugar
1/2C brown sugar
1 large egg
1T milk
1t vanilla
1/2C chocolate chips

1. Preheat your oven to 350F / 175C.
2. Cream butter until light and pale yellow. Add sugars and peanut butter and mix together until well incorporated and smooth.
3. Lightly whisk together egg, milk and vanilla. Stir into butter mixture.
4. Measure dry ingredients and gradually add to butter mixture. Stir until well mixed. Fold in chocolate chips.
5. Line baking trays with parchment paper. Scoop a spoonful of dough and roll them into 3/4" balls. Place on prepared trays and press down slightly.
6. Bake for 12-15mins. Let cook on tray for 3mins before transferring to cooling racks to cool completely.

EAT and store the rest in an airtight container. But I promise you that these cookies won't last the week.

Here are my oatmeal cranberries in the making and in the oven.

I had my yahoo radio on while baking and an AWESOME song to bake along to is Cee-lo Green's Forget You. Totally can move to the beat while you cream butter. I was holding onto the big bowl of butter with my spatula, dancing around the kitchen. Can you picture it?






(image from bluebeat.com)

What brings you comfort?

'Comfort food' - I never knew what it was. Is relatively new to me, meaning that by the time I came across this term, I have been westernized. For the longest time, I thought comfort food was a good beef stew, chicken noodle soup, spaghetti with meatballs, mac n' cheese (which btw I never really liked when I was a kid), anything that's greasy or super sweet. Of course, they are all absolutely delicious, but I didn't grow up with them. These are my 'recent' discoveries. Hence, I never really understood (and questioned) why eating cookie dough is 'heavenly' (you are putting flour and raw eggs in your mouth), or why licking the bowl of left over icing is 'divine'.

By the time I started to appreciate food and the art of cooking, I have been living in Canada for 10+ years. It seems like I have been brainwashed into thinking that bread puddings, grilled cheese sandwiches, big bowls of chillies and bacon & hash are my comfort food. I really did believe they would make me feel better. But in reality, I never really eat them and they are not the first things that come to mind when I need a little warmth & joy.

I recently discovered that no matter how much you think your taste in food has changed over the years (I have been telling people that I would pick western food over Chinese food any day for many years now!), you will always go back to the basics, to your roots because you grew up with them. You feel happy, satisfied and a bit nostalgic when you eat them .. but most of all, you feel comforted and safe.


When I am not feeling well, I thought I would be happy with a really good burger or a bowl of chicken noodle soup; but all I really want is a bowl of rice noodles in soup with fish balls or beef brisket, macaroni in Swanson chicken broth and luncheon meat, carrot & fish soup (Chinese style), fried rice and even congee (which I only eat when I am sick - cos that was what my mom and nanny fed me when I was young and when I was sick). I don't want any fuss, I just want something familiar. It wasn't a taste-bud change for me after what happened, I was merely going back to something that I truly know and found comfort in.

*image from ifood.tv

A grey & wet Sunday ...

... i leave you all with this ...




A great way to spend a rainy sunday is to stay in bed, read your favourite book and just relax. And when you think that it doesn't get any better, mommy brings you a piece of good dark chocolate.







*image from: http://www.agnesb-delices.com/praline.html

Is that time of year again ...

...where almost everywhere in the world is decorated in pink, red and white in some way, with lots of hearts, teddy bears and roses on display. Is the time of year where restaurants offer you the least choices ever, which I think is the worst time to dine out, forcing everyone single one of their customers to order 'the set'. And nope, I can't go out and have a dinner with 3 friends, because 'the set' is meant for 2pax. Despite what seems to be some dissatisfaction here, Valentine's Day is still a day to be thankful that you have your 'perfect someone' with you. And guys, no matter how much a girl says she doesn't like Valentine's Day or doesn't mind if you don't get her anything ... don't listen to that. Just get her something ... anything.


Anyhooo ...since most of the sites that I've been look at is promoting Valentine's Day in some sort of ways - salon.com has 'Search for the best Valentine's Day candy: It's on!"; vanmag.com is educating girls on "Last-minute Valentine's Day Gifts for Men" - then I guess it is important enough for me to dedicate this post to Valentine's day.

I actually don't recall cooking a Valentine's Day meal for my special someone. I usually made my special someone take me out to have 'the set' (ya I know, total hypocrite). But in my defense, I've only had a few bfs and so I don't have many Valentine's Day that I get to spend with a special someone. I did, however, taught a couple of my friends to cook a Valentine's Day meal for their bfs. So I guess this post should be about, IF I have a bf on next Monday, what would I cook for him?

I will absolutely not bound myself to the stove on Valentine's Day since I want to look awesome and enjoy myself. Dripping sweats & smelling like the kitchen don't exactly say sexy. Taking the simple and express route to put a tasty and romantic meal on the table is the way to go. (I will save my herb-rubbed duck with cherry & sage sauce for another day - you have to bone the duck, make the stock ... you get the drift).

Here are my ideas:

Amuse Bouche: Serrano Chips with Quince Preserves & Manchego

To drink: Champagne / Sparkling Wine
Why it is easy: Everything is store bought and all you have to do is cut up and crisp the Serrano ham in the oven (or you can fry them in oil); Use a peeler to shave some cheese, and stack: ham --> quince -- cheese. YUM! You can do this ahead of time.

Starter: Any type of Seafood Ceviche (ex. scallops, tuna, seabass, etc)

To drink: White Wine
Why it is easy: No cooking involved. Chop up your seafood into tiny cubes, marinate them in lemon juice (or any citrus) for 30mins and you are done. The citrus 'cooks' the seafood. Since this is so easy, you should also dice up some red onions, cilantro and toss them in the mix for some colors and flavour. season to taste.

Main: Oven Roasted Lamb Chops with Roasted Garlic and Rosemary

To drink: Continue with the white wine or open a red (the lamb is mild enough to go with the white wine and the roasted garlic will be really sweet instead of pungent and in your face. You won't have garlic breath, I promise).
Why it is easy: You just shove it in the oven and let it do the job for you. You won't have any oil splatters on your LBD. And since you are using the oven, buy some baby carrots and zucchini and roast them in oven too. Veggies are important.

Dessert: Mixed Berries with Creme Anglaise and Chocolate Cigars

To drink: A pot of fragrant rose tea with some honey
Why it is easy: This can be made ahead of time and the Creme Anglaise is the ONLY thing you need to cook on the stove. Get berries of your choice and a box of those chocolate cigar cookies (the ones you see on ice cream sundaes). Prepare the creme angliase before you doll yourself up, so that you can chill it in the fridge while you get ready. When you are boiling water to make the rose tea, assemble the dessert - layer berries, creme anglaise, berries and creme anglaise in tall glasses (martini glasses would look nice). Stick 2 of the chocolate cigars in and you are done.

Last thing to do is to set the mood. DO get some candles & flowers as the center piece.

Thoughts, suggestions, comments?

It has not been my week ...

.... in baking that is. 2 days in a row, 2 failures. Right now I don't even want to be near my mixing bowls, whisk and spatulas. I don't understand why I always have a hard time baking cakes, or anything for that matter. Almost always nothing comes out the way they are supposed to.

Knowing that I still have a tub of yogurt in my fridge, I thought it would be fun to bake a yogurt cake with a lemon glaze. All sounded simple enough and it shouldn't be too bad if I follow some guidelines. So 350F, buttered mini loaf pans and I started mixing the batter. All was well and mixed in 20mins and into the oven for 30mins before checking. The mini loaves were rising beautifully in the hot oven (I should have taken pictures of that). But when I used a skewer to poke them to check if they were done, the whole thing just collapsed on me! I baked it for another 5 mins and took them out and they just turned into heavy and dense yogurt loaves! I don't know what went wrong, but here's the recipe that I used:

1.5C flour
2t baking powder
1/4t salt
1C yogurt
1C sugar
3 eggs
1t lemon zest
1/4t vanilla
1/2C veggie oil

your very simple and basic yogurt pound cake recipe, yet I still managed to screw it up.

With yesterday's flop, I thought I should go with something I am more familiar with, cookies. I've been baking them nonstop for the past couple of weeks and all turned out delicious. Dav, my friend, gave me a recipe and said is the best chco chip cookies ever. And so I gave it a go with confidence that nothing will go wrong and I will be able to enjoy a fresh batch of cookies in an hour. Was I wrong!

I don't think there is anything wrong with the recipe. It was just idiot me who forgot to refrigerate the dough for at least an hour before baking!! With so much butter (ratio of butter to flour is 1 to 1 in this recipe) in the dough, how could I have forgotten to chill it first!!!! so my first 2 batches of this supposedly heavenly treat turned into a blob of mess - or thin choc chip crisps if you want to be nice.




(then i tried to shape them into those fancy French buttery cookies and rested them on my rolling pin)

Totally NOT my week for baking at all. I now believe that your mood reflects on the results of your dishes. I have been rather grouchy and moody for the past couple of days (yes, I am blaming it on PMS) and my dearest Dr Chan just told me that I should cut back on desserts because white sugar is bad for my skin and whatever else I have. With not so good news, I am letting my oven take a break until next week.

Is like chemistry class all over again

Motivated by all the festivities of CNY around me, I have decided to make a rather popular Chinese dessert - Osmanthus Jelly (Gwai Fa Go). I love this stuff. Is so fragrant and light and is just what we need for CNY since we are always overeating, but you cannot not have any desserts.


(this is what Osmanthus looks like)


(the dried stuff)

Is a very simple dish to make but what was a bit of a challenge was to get the powdered gelatin and liquid ratio right. This Chinese 'jello' is firmer & chewier than your usual western jello (where it giggles more). Since I was never a dessert making person, I am ashamed to say that this was my first time experimenting with powdered gelatin.

I researched online and looked through many sites and gelatin packages to find out what should be the right ratio. I had my electric scale with me, my measuring cups and the whole lot. It felt a lot like high school chemistry class all over again. Being a person with not much common sense and forgetting that this jelly should be firmer in texture, I went with the "usual ratio" (and more liquid), and thus my Osmanthus Jelly turned out to be what you can say, a puddle of goo.

The 2nd trial, I cut half the liquid but used the same amount of gelatin powder and after 3 hrs of refrigeration, my Osmanthus Jelly finally set - with a deep golden color and specs of red from the goji berries, adorned with little petals from the dried Osmanthus. It was just gorgeous. Well, at least to me it was.

Here's the recipe for this lovely dessert:


550ml water
100ml room-temp water
2 packs of gelatin (24g)*
80-100g rock sugar
1T dried osmanthus (or you can use osmanthus sugar - adjust the taste with the rock sugar)
10g goji berries (weighted and soaked in hot water for around 5-10mins)


1. boil 550ml water in a pot with rock sugar. Stir until dissolved.
2. turn to low heat and add in the goji berries & the dried osmanthus. simmer for 3-5mins until fragrant. Turn off heat and set aside.
3. put 100ml room-temp water in a bowl and sprinkle the powdered gelatin on top. let sit for 30secs and slowly whisk together with a fork. Let stand for 3 mins.
4. Slowly ladle some of the osmanthus mixture into the gelatin mixture and stir together. (By tempering the gelatin mixture before pouring it in into the hot mixture prevents clumping).
5. Once the gelatin starts to dissolve, you can pour the gelatin mixture back into the osmantus mixture. Stir until will mixed together.
6. Pour into individual molds or whatever jelly molds you have and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
7. Once set, cut into pieces and enjoy with a cup of good Chinese tea!

*here are some tips on using gelatin
a. 1T of powdered gelatin sets 2 cups of liquid (475ml), firm enough to unmold
b. 1T of powdered gelatin = 4 leaves of gelatin
c. UK brands packaged gelatin usually comes in 11g/pk. This will sent 1 pint liquid (600ml) - though I would suggest you always weight your pkg'd gelatin to make sure.
d. Always add gelatin to water, not the other way around. Sprinkle powdered gelatin into cold water. Mix and let stand for 3-5mins
e. Temper the gelatin mixture with hot liquid before adding the mixture into the hot liquid all at once.
f. NEVER boil gelatin

Creatively challenged

I've always wanted to start a blog (well now I kind of have), but I was never much of a writer. I just don't always have much to say about the restaurants I go to or the dishes that I've tried. Maybe I do, and is just the lack of vocabulary in me that's making it hard for me to write anything interesting, exciting and meaningful.

I tend to use the same words over and over again. I mean, how many ways can you describe a piece of well-cooked fish? is succulent, tender, flaky, moist, well-seasoned, tasty ... what else? Is amazing how so many food bloggers have the talent to make their piece so interesting. Every sentence goes together ... things just flow. They make food and eating exciting - you can actually 'experience' their gourmet adventures when reading their blogs. Sometimes you can even 'taste' the dishes through their writing.

Anyways, this is just a random post. Maybe eventually I will be able to make a post about lemons interesting.

***A little update***
The ginger cake did indeed taste a lot better after I heated it up and slathered it with butter. Even my dad liked it and he was not very impressed with the taste last night.

Grandma's Cooking

My grandma is a fabulous cook. Whose grandma isn't a fabulous cook? I have never heard anyone complained about his/her grandma's cooking. Is just so familiar. You grew up with it. The tastes are sometimes exactly what you need after a long day at work.

One of the dishes that I really wanted to learn from my grandma is her famous white raddish (turnip) cake that she always make for Chinese New Year. They are delicious steamed or pan fried. I always ask her for the recipe but her answer was always "I don't have one ... you just mix everything together and steam it. Is all about the feel of things," she said.

The consistency of the batter - grams just know if she needs more water or rice flour just by stirring the mixture with a pair of long wooden chopsticks.

A generous amount of salt, white pepper and chicken powder - but not too much because the Chinese sausages (laap cheung)can be quite salty. Then you balance the flavor out with a touch of sugar.

No quantities and measurements for the ingredients yet every time grandma can give you that same perfect taste & texture. I do not know how she does it.

Anyways, in hopes to continue the tradition (it skipped a generation since my mom hates to cook), I have made my very first turnip cake for this Chinese New Year. And let me tell you, it is all about trial and error. I know what is supposed to go into the batter, but I didn't bother writing down the exact amount as that would defeat the purpose of learning from grandma. I want to be like her and just know what to do with this family's favorite.



My dad did the taste test this time - first bite was grandma's, second bite was mine. Not too far away from mastering this dish, he said.

Fresh Ginger and Maple Cake (Bread)

Today while I was making the Chinese raddish cake in preparation for Chinese New Year, I all of a sudden wanted to bake a loaf of cake/bread. I ran out of bananas so I couldn't make my banana bread. As I just recently got into this whole baking craze, I bought quite a few baking spices - cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger - and so much more. So I have decided to make a spiced cake loaf. I was never a baker, and my cakes always turned out rather blah. This would be a good chance to test myself and see if I can come up with a new cake/bread recipe based on my banana bread.

Using only the ground spices won't make the cake very interesting. I saw fresh ginger, they are going in. I saw maple syrup and apple sauce - these 2 made it onto the list as well. I grated a big fat nob of ginger and used apple sauce in place of the veggie oil - which according to many blogs and food sites, they are interchangeable in baking. Your cakes will still turn out moist but none of the fat. I also used brown sugar to add more sweetness and depth to the flavor. Then of course, your usual cake mix - flour, egg, baking soda, etc.

30mins in a 350F oven, my kitchen was filled with the warm aroma of ginger, cinnamon and cloves. Not bad I thought.



Now comes the taste test - i liked the taste - it got a kick to it since i used fresh ginger. The cake was moist enough but the taste was not as rich as if you used oil or butter. And the texture got a bit chewy after the loaf was cooled. Was it because I didn't use any fat in the recipe? Not enough eggs? In any case, this was a good start to a homey & comforting quick bread recipe. Still need improvements of course. In the mean time, I will be devouring this loaf of fresh ginger and maple bread tomorrow morning - heating it up and serving it with a nob of butter & fig jam.

You gotta have the fat.