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RESUME

2013

TAKE ME BACK: MACAU

It was a one day thing: starting in the very early morning when the mall was barely opened and only occupied by the other people who were boarding the ferry.

We were just a few days into our HK stay, and already disliking the intense heat outdoors and the intense A/C indoors.

Malaysia withdrawal was kicking in - the yearning for late night satay and all day durian was on my mind.

I must say I wish I enjoyed Macau a bit more...

Macau in pictures is glorious and so let these snapshots do the rest of the talking:

So maybe I didn't enjoy Macau while I was there, but looking back at it - I love it so much.

Because I got to spend it with my parents and brother

Yes, I gained a considerable amount of weight during my 3 months in Asia, but I'm all back to normal now!

Farewell!

P/S

Sat with my legs crossed for a bit too long and now my feet are asleep.

I made a ridiculously tall strawberry mille crepe a few weeks ago and learned a lesson: don't make mille crepes this tall.

Dear readers, when have you last taught yourself a lesson?

, by vickichowder

BAKE

CHESTNUT ROLL CAKE

And if you are running out of holiday dessert ideas already, not to fear because here is another one:

You'll need to buy the piping tip #234 (from Wilton), which has many small holes that pipes out stuff to look like long strings of spaghetti (or worms) *ew*

And while you've got your piping tip fitted into the bag full of the smooth puree of chestnut, why not make some mont blancs to go with them? Recipe is right here

Crunchy tart shells work the best with a filling this smooth and creamy. And that perfect tart shell would be a sable breton, though you could go with a flaky crunchy one made with lard too!

P/S

If you happen to be short on time with cooking, sashimi is a fast and easy dish.

Buy the sashimi grade from your fish market, keeping it chilled at home until you're ready to cut and serve:

Unwrapping the gift of from the sea

Serve alongside wasabi and soy sauce!

Wishing all my dear readers a healthy weight gain from holiday feasting!

, by vickichowder

APPETIZER

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

BAKE

Well here it is... a continuation of my current obsession of making chiffon cakes. Maybe it was because I had stopped making them for so long, that once I made my first one in a long time, I couldn't stop with once a week but upped it to 2-3 chiffon cakes a week.

But they're so light and fluffy - I could eat 2-3 slices at a time...

For a friend's birthday I took white chocolate candy melts (the white circles) as impromptu cake decoration to spell out the birthday message using peanut butter (because I only had white chocolate and writing white chocolate on white chocolate wouldn't be very well seen now would it)

Above is also a jar of peach jam made from a time when peaches were 0.29$ a pound and my mom and I went and filled two bags full of peaches. Only to find out that these were previously chilled and thawed upon selling. Rendering the peach flesh unpleasant to each fresh because it took on a powdery texture. And the only choice was to peel and then cook them to a compote (as pictured two pictures above) (just peach and sugar and a vanilla bean).

I don't want to leave home - so that I can have access to my fully stocked kitchen of baking tools whenever I want.

And bake things like this, which you can now bake too!

~ Ingredients ~

6 egg yolks (room temp*)

20 g white sugar

50 g oil (vegetable, corn)

100 g flour

60 ml warm milk (3.25%#)

6 egg whites (room temp*)

80 g white sugar

* Optional

# Can switch to water or lower fat % milk

~ Method ~

Beat A until pale yellow

Add B into A, mix well

Add C into A, mix well

Beat whites in D on low for 5-6 minutes (until foamy, small bubbles)

Beat whites on medium for 2 minutes until soft peaks

III

Gradually add sugar, beating on high until firmer, but not stiff peaks

(beating on high for less than 1-2 minutes is enough)

IIV

Pour 1/3 egg white into yolk, mix well

Pour 1/3 white into yolk, fold gently

Pour last 1/3 white into yolk, fold gently

Bake 30 minutes 350F in greased angel food cake pan

Place upside down when finished baking

Remove from pan when cool

There you go. Now from the cooled cake, you can cut it into 2+ layers, add canned/fresh fruit in between, top/coat it with fresh whipped cream (never icing for a light cake like this one)

I put 2-3 tbsp of matcha powder into the flour when making green tea chiffon

P/S

Back when the weather was still above 15 degrees Celsius:

My team and I went to a park and had a bbq lunch:

It included too much food and we ended up bringing back a good third of what we had brought there, along with a stomach that could no longer fit any more.