vickichowder: BREAD

RECIPE: HOLIDAY BRIE

Merry Christmas!

If you happen to have a lot of people to entertain in the coming weeks, this is the most welcomed appetizer/finger food I've served in the past few months. And you'll only need three ingredients:

I poured the syrup I kept from poaching pears over the brie before baking

Brie

Pear (any kind except for asian pears which are too high in water content)

Cranberry (or other dried fruit)

We cut up four pears to cover a whole brie baked in a 10 inch dish.

If your brie is too big for your baking dish, cut it up.

Scatter cranberries all over, and arrange pears on top.

Bake at 350 for at least 10 minutes, or until it's all melted if cut up/the brie is puffed up if it is baked whole.

Serve with small spoons, alongside ciabatta, rye, water crackers.

Best kind of pears I found for this?

Forelle

Rocha

Bosc

P/S

No holiday party would be complete without dessert:

(That is, unless you happen to forget to invite me to yours)

Wishing all my dear readers a food filled holiday!

*I believe I wished you all the same thing last year too*

, by vickichowder

ANTHONY

As the school term comes closer the end, I've found myself so occupied that I rarely have time to watch my favourite show: No Reservations (though I think I've already watched nearly all the episodes...). After waking up, making myself presentable and going to classes, the rest of the typical day of the week usually consists of:

1. Researching food,

2. Looking at food pictures,

3. Reading the descriptions of food on menus because I'm not rich enough to go to the restaurant to eat their food,

4. Making food,

5. Eating the food I make, and

6. Doing assignments / studying

So let me share some breakfasts I've been having over this month (although I can't guarantee the actual time frame for which these photos span):

Homemade gyozas/dumplings

Radish cake

Glutinous rice with green bean, pork belly, salted egg yolk

Oatmeal + milk tea

Oatmeal + barley

Barley + honey + jujube soup

Avocado + flax seed + milk + cereal

Strawberry + flax seed + milk + cereal

Pancake with lots of hunny (because that's the way Winnie the Pooh spells it, and my love for Winnie the Pooh and everything about him go way back)

Pancake with breakfast sausage and lots of honey

Pancake with avocado and honey

Shawarma, deconstructed, sans wrap, to which I asked for four sauces to be added: garlic, tzatziki, spicy something, hummus. From FMT - Farmer's Market Thursdays

Apple fritter and vanilla icecream. The side that is heavily dusted with cinnamon is mine. From FMT

Super creamy scrambled egg with spinach, on top of sourdough bread

Poached egg with mozzarella sauce, on top of spinach and buttered+toasted rye

Lately I've been really enjoying to make grilled sandwiches. There's just something very comforting and indulgent about biting into crispy-buttered toast to reveal hot, layered - meats, veggies, and melted cheese (and a good spread of grainy mustard which I would like to thank my friends for, because I was just lamenting over how I didn't buy it - which they magically brought along with them when they visited me).

I hope this has contributed to your daily serving of food porn.

Please come again soon,

MUAH MUAH MUAH

VICKI CHOW

P/S

I think I've watched almost all of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations, so I began watching another show of his - The Layover. But none on that for now. There was a No Reservations special that was dedicated entirely to food porn, in which he describes the enjoyment of food as sinful as, well, things you do that are considered to be sins. What does Mr. Bourdain say about this topic, exactly? Well:

"The human body reacts in very similar ways when anticipating food and sex. Capillaries swell, lips and membranes become engorged, saliva thickens, and the pulse rises. It’s no accident that the two pleasures have become confused."

Can you guess what this is?

On my lazy-but-must-muster-up-motivation-to-blog days, I will post up these sorts of picture posts, for those who are as lazy as I am - have no will to read words but just want to let their eyes take in everything for them *how thoughtful of me*

Happy Easter! May you eat many delicious foods this weekend (:

, by vickichowder

BAKING

THE PROMISED ENTREMET & FMT

Maybe you have read and remembered that in my previous post, I mentioned that I would be making an entremet and that it would have to be tasted and critiqued before it made its appearance on my blog. And so I have created this layered dessert, I had people eat it, and I had people say some things about it.

Nice lighting makes my food look mouth-watering from every angle - don't you think so?

"It's so yummy!" "It's really good!" "It's [adjective of very] [adjective of delicious] [exclamation mark]"

An example of terrible lighting = terrible looking dessert.

I was constantly tasting each component of the cake as I made it, but I wasn't the first one to take a bite of the full thing - so I was rather nervous as to how it would taste since I never made cinnamon mousse before.

But it yielded only positive responses (how nerdy is it that I picture graphs of functions in my head upon typing the word positive)! So here is a breakdown of the cake that is making me think of whether or not baking should be more than a hobby:

From top to bottom: green tea chocolate, Italian meringue, caramelized banana, cinnamon mousse, milk chocolate mousse, cinnamon mousse (again), coffee sponge soaked with coffee syrup

I've been into boozy baking: Oatmeal cookies with rum raisins

My Mommy doesn't like it when I make these time-consuming desserts. She doesn't understand why I would take so much out of my day to construct such a cake - when I could simply make a plain cream-and-fruit-filled-sponge and be done with it. I tell her that since

"You're not the one making it, you shouldn't worry or be concerned. So just eat and smile so I feel encouraged to be a better baker (:"

My babies are baking

But of course, I cannot spend all my time on these layered sweets. I have gotten into a habit of baking cookies late into the night. It's quite a blessing that my neighbours have yet to complain about the noise of my electric beater past one in the morning (I appreciate you, my neighbours, for not getting angry yet).

Oh yes, and another habit, which I'm afraid has become rather of an addiction for me lately, is going to the gym! I feel super motivated to go - it's almost as motivating as FMT (Farmer's Market Thursday)! Today is indeed Thursday, and so I went to the market and bought some bread.

My brunch, to which I added much more cream after taking this photo.

The bread guy at the market (who calls my friend and I "Cantonese" as though it were our names) sells 2 bread for $5, but usually sells 3 for the price of 2 for us. Today, however, we were given another extra bread - so 4 for only $5!! I made it into egg-y cinnamon French toast, and topped it with some lightly sweetened Chantilly cream (essentially whipped cream) and honey.

Lastly, I'd like to end today's post with what I usually start my mornings with:

My caffeine addiction has returned! Besides buying milk tea and coffee when I go out, I make it too often at home. So I try to make smoothies more often as an alternative to coffee - but I don't think it works that way ):

MUAH MUAH MUAH

VICKI CHOW

P/S

In addition to caffeine addiction, my appetite has also returned! *yay*

I had AYCE with a long lost friend today. Afterwards, we accidentally took a detour and wound up on a sketch part of the road which had no lights and barely any cars O_O But we eventually turned back onto the right side of the road.

CNY (Chinese New Year) is near - food and money is near.

So last week's dilemma was loss of appetite, and this week's dilemma is:

My super dry-all-the-time throat.

I really hope that it somehow recovers so I can eat all the delicious not-good-for-the-throat Chinese New Year food this weekend!

Chinese people are auspicious when CNY rolls around. For example, you cannot cut your hair for thirty (ish) days from the start of new year, or you "cut off your fortune".

Happy CNY everyone!

, by vickichowder

BREAD

BREAKFAST SPECIAL AT STONE CROCK & FMT

Today is Farmer's Market Thursday, so my friend Sunny and I took the bus very early in the morning to journey out into the blistering morning weather. When we turned around the corner of our building, a tsunami-like wave of wind came upon us - which caused us to immediately retreat back behind the building where the wind was blocked off. After standing there in shock (due to the tsunami-like wind) for a few minutes, we decided to reroute our walk to the bus stop (which was successful *yay*) to avoid the tsunami-like wind (yes, it was rather INTENSE).

The inside of Stone Crock restaurant

While on the bus to the market, I kind of knowingly missed the cue to pull the "STOP REQUESTED" thing on the bus, so we missed the stop to the market. After staring at each other blankly for about three seconds, we thought of a simple solution: keep riding the bus to go to St. Jacobs and eat breakfast!

A warm fireplace to make you want to stay seated longer

This morning, I only had a lemon-honey-water drink, so I felt quite up to try the Breakfast Special (for only $4.99!) I saw last time I came to St. Jacobs.

I forgot to mention it also comes with baked beans - but I told the server I didn't want it

This breakfast was just as hearty as I had expected it to be - a mound of crispy hash potatoes, a big juicy sausage, buttered and toasted multi-grain bread, and two eggs made to your liking.

In addition, we get bottom-less coffee or tea! (I like my coffee with a 2:1 ratio of milk and cream - no sugar please!)

I asked for my poached eggs to be runny, and the yolks came running to me (:

The sausage was doused with honey because I think it suits the sausage more than ketchup paste.

This breakfast was amazing - as I ate quite a hefty amount of it despite my lack of appetite for the past three days. However we did have to pack some of the sausage and potato home because there was no way we could have devoured the entire serving (before we ordered, my friend suggested we share one, but I said "no". I should have listened to her).

We headed to the bus stop after eating to make our way back to the market to do our grocery shopping. And suddenly, the sun decided to shine so beautifully upon the side of the street we were standing on. What a great opportunity to take beautiful pictures! (:

My rabbit fur hat was going to fly away, hence my awkward poses

During those 15-20 minutes of us being like tourists and taking pictures with the buildings and scenery, we kept looking at the street to see when the bus would come - but it seemed like it would never come...

The gorgeous river

Until we were taking pictures again, and the bus drives right pass us! Eventually, we get on the next bus and arrive safely at the market where we bought a variety of fruits... And wait, I'm trying to think of something else we may have bought there, but I can't. It was actually all just fruits.

My skin looks beautiful without BB cream today - thanks to my twice daily lemon water (:

If you are around the Waterloo area you must definitely try Stone Crock Restaurant (they have a bakery right beside) for breakfast. The atmosphere there is quiet and cozy, which was a rather relaxing start to my day.

MUAH MUAH MUAH

VICKI CHOW

P/S

The caffeine fix from this morning did wonders to me at the gym this afternoon. I was able to prolong my cardio-workout to 47 minutes (I usually end around 35). I'm not sure if my appetite increased due to the extra amount of exercise, or whether I just forced more food down my mouth today than the past few days.

Why of all times do I have to feel like this now?

It's like my stomach's refusing food.

On a brighter note: the weekend is nearing, so what better way to welcome my two favourite days of the week (Saturday and Sunday) than with some delicious dessert!

I'll be making a new entremet (layered mousse/sponge/sometimes-fruit cake) tomorrow and I shall have to tell you all about it after it has been completed, tasted, and critiqued.

Oh and, my face finally appears on this blog! *yay*

Is there any food you are looking forward to over the weekend?

, by vickichowder

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