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. My Tasting Palette .
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. In celebration of food and dining experiences . |
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Exploring and discovering new restaurants Dining and chilling out with my loved ones Baking and cooking over the weekends Sharing my love for food with others
Vanilla bean pods (one can never have enough) Valrhona Cocoa powder Valrhona chocolate Macarons from Laduree and Pierre Herme Madelines mold Pretty cake stands (I only have one and only one) YUZU from Japan! (They taste great in almost anything) A food tour to Italy and France Opportunity to study at Le Cordon Bleu |
Thursday, February 15, 2007 [[ Lemon cranberry and white chocolate cupcakes]] Baked cupcakes for Chinese New Year. Love the little mini-sized paper holders. I take back what I said about how much I love big muffins. Coz this is really good too-bite sizd and addictive!
In our attempt to avoid the crowds and the exorbidant prices of food out there, I decided to make a simple lunch before our picnic. Prepared baked aubergines(my favourite!) with breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese. Adapted the recipe from Donnay Hay Instant Entertaining.
Baked aubergines Cooked my favourite aglio olio pasta with bacon, bell peppers and chopped tomatoes soaked in apple cider vinegar. I need to get a deeper frying pan!
Aglio Olio [[Picnic in a basket]] J and I prepared a picnic feast at the botanical gardens. We had linseed bread with ham and horseradish sauce, butterhead greens with cherry tomatoes, bacon, croutons with lemon-mustard olive oil dressing and orange chocolate cake which I baked the previous night and not forgetting chilled pinot noir. We went there at about 5ish so the weather was not too hot, in fact there were quite a few others having their own feasts. The orange cake is really unique-without butter or flour. It uses ground almonds. My folly was to put too much orange(or rather my oranges were too big. So do stick to small ones). The cake turned out too moist but other than that, it will be perfect. I'll definitely try baking it next time because the orange flavour is mighty alluring- even when you are cooking the oranges.  Orange chocolate Cake by Feast:food that celebrates life by Nigella Lawsons 2 small orange about 375g( i mean small!) 6 eggs 1 heaped tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda 200g ground almonds 250 g caster sugar 50g cocoa *(can add more for a more chocolatey taste) orange peep for decoration 1. Put the whole oranges in a pan with cold water, bring to boil and cook for 2hr or until soft. 2. Drain, and when cool cut the oranges in half and remove any big pips. Chop the food finely by hand or pulp everything in a food processor. 3. Preheat the oven to 180 deg c and butter and line a 20cm tin. 4. Add eggs, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda almonds, sugar and cocoa to the orange in the food procesoor. 5. Pour into the tin can and bake for an hour. 6. Check after 45 mins because you may need to cover with foil to prevent the cake from burning. 7. Leave the cake to cool in the tin on a cooling rack 8. Decorate with strips of orange peel or coarsely grated zest if you wish.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007 [[Wacha, cozy shophouse..intricate servings of Japanese food]]  I read about Wacha and wanted to try it so I dragged J along. It is located at Ann Siang Hill amidst one of the shophouses. Wacha is a little shop specialising in Japanese lacquer ware as you can see in the photo below. There are pretty serving plates, bowls and cups that cost a bomb! Shall stock up on those when I have the money next time!  Beautiful tea pots and cups The restaurant area is at the back of the store and it's a really small but cozy place. J and I were the only customers at 2pm. (Yes! they only open at 2pm-11pm!). We ordered the set lunch and we were delighted with the intricate and beautiful lacquer wares. The presentation of the food just makes you just want to admire it for a long time. But I was too hungry by 2pm so I greedily gobbled the food after I took some photos.  Wacha restaurant 
 The little items in the baskets The next dish was stir fried beef with bamboo shoots. It's really good. The thinly sliced beef combined with the bamboo shoots(which I initially thought were ginger coz they looked like sliced ginger) but upon tasting them, they were really sweet and soft. The beef though simple was a delightful treat. And of coz, the bowl that it was being served in was really pretty.  Stir fried beef with bamboo shoots The next dish was macaroni gratin with chicken bits in it. Even though this dish seemed very un-japanese-like, Wacha managed to add that delicate and intricate bit to the dish. It's really comfort food!  Macaroni gratin My favourite has got to be this green tea fried rice. It had tiny silver fish in it and it had a very unique taste. The fried rice was really fragrant and it was cooked to perfection. I would go back to eat this dish anytime. It was served in clear chicken broth with egg white which reminded me particularly of chawanmushi. (wasnt too fantastic for me.) 
For dessert, we ordered a green tea cheese cake to share. It's really interesting and it has azuki beans at the bottom. But i think you have to share this one..if not you'll really be too full!  Green Tea cheese cake
Monday, February 05, 2007 Just satisfied my baking craving... Today's creation: Lemon Cranberry Cupcakes (adapted from Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess) It's a delightful teatime treat. Not too sinful and goes perfectly well with hot tea or milk. Lemon Cranberry Cupcakes Makes 24 small cupcakes 1/4 cup butter 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 tsp salt Juice and zest of 2 lemons approximately 3/4 cup milk 1 large egg Cranberries 1. Preheat oven to 200 deg c 2. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool 3. Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt and zest 4. In a measuring cup, pour in the lemon juice, and then enough milk to come up nearly to the 1 cup mark 5. Beat in the egg and melted butter. 6. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir briefly; the batter should scarecely be combined. 7. Fold in the cranberries, spon this mixture into muffin cups and bake for about 20 minutes or when the tops spring back to your touch. 8. Leave in the pan for 5 minutes to cool slightly, then sit them on a rack to cool for a further 10-15 minutes
[[Sunday Lunch @ Robataya Yoyogi]]  I have been fascinated by this Japanese grilled restaurant whenever I walk by Robertson Quay. The one thing that caught my attention is that they serve their grilled items on a huge paddle if you are sitting at the counter seat. It's a pity they are too quick so I couldnt take a proper photo of that. The chefs are all japanese and they attempt to speak japanese to you as they serve you. But I dont really understand what they are saying with the exception of "dozo". grins Anyway, it's a real delight to have the lunch set there- I ordered the Saba Shioyaki set which is a salted grilled mackerel and other side dishes- salad, vegetable roll and miso soup. And because I'm a big fan of unagi, we ordered it ala carte. I can't describe how good the grilled unagi taste. It's unlike others because it is grilled right under the charcoal fire so it is bursting of flavour and I love the burnt edges of it. I think I ate about half of the unagi on top of my meal! Dessert was a scoop of yuzu ice cream- this ice cream is made from orange peel and its citrusy and zesty flavour was a good ending to a heavy meal. I'll definitely be back again if I'm craving for grilled japanese food!  Saba Shioyaki Set
 More food that we ordered: the vegetable roll, the toufu salad, the grilled bacon-wrapped asparagus, and the unagi
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