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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 |
Monday, March 12, 2007 Chocolate Mille Feuille [[Of afternoon beers and mouth-watering dinners]]  Chocolate Mille Feuille, "Pleasure"After belgium beer, miharu ramen and more drinks, I still decided that I had to get the mille feuille from The Chocolate Factory. It's the one thing that I want to try from that place. (and it's always not on the menu!) So when i chanced upon it, I knew that I couldn't go home without it. I'm glad that I didn't. Wwe didnt eat it at that place 'cause we were too far so we went back home with this treasure. I was carrying it so cautiously as I didn't want to spoil such a pretty thing. "Pleasure", though its name isn't exactly appealing, was really, really good. Its not exactly the cheapest dessert at $9.50 but I think it is worth every cent. The quality of the chocolate used is quite enough to make me drool over it. I don't think I'll say anymore 'cause you really have to try it when you catch a glimpse of it when you're at Robertson Quay. Wednesday, March 07, 2007 Of Jamming Sessions [[No, that's not orange]]  Finally made grapefruit jam after doing much research online. This grapefruit jam was a recipe from Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess but it didnt tell me much about the nitty grittys of making jam so i went to the net. Managed to find information on sterilizing the jars and little tips for jam-making. Also,I marveled at the different exotic concoctions of jam-(those I'll try again some other time). Anyway, my grapefruit jam is not for everyone. You need to like grapefruit before you like this 'cause it has a bitter after taste. But the texture is fine and the people who tasted it says it's not bad. Oh well, in any case, I'll try making something more acceptable to the taste buds next time. Like maybe orange marmalade(that's a personal favourite of mine!) Sunday, March 04, 2007 Dinner celebration [[Dinner celebration]]
Decided to cook a feast for my sis yesterday. ::The menu: Roasted tomato and bell pepper soup Lamb cutlets and roasted potatoes Glazed red pearl onions Lemon butter spinach Squid pasta Ice-cream tiramisu *********************** ::The process::  Bell Peppers after roasting  Cooking the red pearl onions ************************* ::The Results:: I enjoyed the cooking process especially when I have my co-chef in action. =) Though at one point in time, i wasn't feeling too good due to the lack of sleep. But everything turned out quite fine. We were a little over-ambitious in trying to prepare too large a menu. The pasta was an extra coz we were afraid that my grandma and J will still be hungry without much carbs. I love making soup coz it's really simple as long as you have good ingredients. I grilled the bell peppers and they smelled really lovely when I took them out of the oven that I almost didn't want to put them in my soup! Bought the lamp cutlets from Swiss Butchery. The first batch were well-done and it's really a pity cause they will be perfect if they were medium-done. Gotta manage the timing better. The roasted potatoes were perfect-bursting with adequate amount of flavours. I love the spinach even though I should have taken them out of the pan slightly earlier. I thought the pasta was alright though I'm not a big fan of squid. The dessert was too simple but I think we loved it all the same. All you need is a good tub of vanilla ice cream and chocolate. =)  The dinner! (butter lemon spinach, red pearl onions, roasted potatos and the lamb cutlets)  the pasta and the soup  Ice cream tiramisu ************** ::The Recipes:: (Adapted from Donna Hay's Instant Entertaining) Tomato and bell pepper soup Serves 4 2x400g cans peeled tomatoes 500g grilled bell peppers 2 tbsp olive oil 4 cloves of garlic, crushed 2 cups chicken stock 1 tbsp sugar sea salt and black pepper 2 tbsp basil leaves shaved parmesan cheese to serve 1. Drizzled the bell peppers with olive oil and grill them in the oven at 180 deg c for 30 minutes. 2. Place the tomatoes and the bell peppers in a food processor and process till smooth 3. Heat oil and garlic in a saucepan until fragrant 4. Add the tomato mixture and the rest of the ingredients and cook till hot. Top with the basil leaves and parmesan **** Garlic roast lamb cutlets Serves 4 12 cloves of garlic, peeled yellow onions, sliced 6x170g of roasting potatoes, sliced 1 tbsp of rosemary leaves 2 tbsp olive oil sea salt and black pepper 8 double lamb cutlets trimmed 1. Marinate the lamb cutlets in red wine before starting. 2. Preheat the oven to 220 deg C. Place the garlic, onions, potatoes, rosemary, oil, salt, pepper in a bking dish. Toss to combine and roast for 25minutes. 3. While the mixture is cooking, heat a frying pan over high heat and brown the lamb on all sides. 4. Place the lamb in the oven to roast for a further 8-10 minutes or until the lamb is golden and the potatoes are soft. 5. To serve, make sauce with wine and cranberry. ***** [[Lunch @ Yumeya]]  I ordered the ochazuke  and grilled pregnant fish |
