christmas this year is rather disappointing coz i didn't manage to make any x'mas goodies. i was up to my elbows with orders even until the eve itself and these peppermint dark chocolate macarons you see here were specially requested by a customer, else i wouldn't hv anything festive to post. i had lotsa things in mind to bake actually - panforte, stained glass cookies, two-toned peppermint marshmallows and white choc rum truffles coated with four different toppings but in the end, i made none.

it was a dream come true to finally be able to taste pierre hermé's macarons, thx to my lovely friend vickii who so generously shared them with me. of coz, i must also thank vickii's BFF who got them for her from tokyo. since i only wanted ONE BITE, i was elated to see a pretty row of exquisite looking gems that i almost squealed in excitement :p definitely a bonus to be able to try so many flavors. flavors as seen : mogador, macha marron, rose, chocolat, montebello & cafe.

i feel extremely honored to be given the opportunity to bake for discovery travel & living and their clients this x'mas. 45 boxes of assorted bakes, 3 days of non-stop baking (minus very little rest & sleeping time), i suddenly feel very accomplished. while i'm not really a stranger to big orders, this one must be the biggest yet! very challenging indeed. planning started weeks ago and it was fun to jot down the massive amt of ingredients used (i used close to 30 blocks of butter & 200 eggs) and go shopping for packaging and ingredients.

gnocchi must not like me very much, coz i tried making it twice and failed. first time i mashed the potatoes using the hand blender and they turned out too watery. second time i added too little egg and the gnocchi separated upon boiling! and with the sage leaves already bought (planned to make potato gnocchi with burnt sage butter initially) i had to think of something else.

lately i've got this obsession with breakfast food. pancakes, poached or scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, mushrooms sauteed with garlic & butter, english muffins etc. and i was rather pleased with my rendition of my breakfast items, especially the hollandaise sauce. making granola is also on my to-do list coz they're really good eaten on their own, with milk or yoghurt. i usually have alot of nuts at home, especially the expensive ones like hazelnuts, pistachios & walnuts for baking plus leftover iranian dates from ramadan few months back so granola is the way to go.

frankly, my previous failed attempt on pancakes left me feeling embarrassed much more than anything else. for someone who's got almost 4 years of experience in baking and has dabbled with countless of complicated bakes, there was no reason why i could fail in such simple stuff like pancakes (yes i know i've said that before). i was really determined to get it right and i'm glad i didn't have to wait long. i got it right on the next attempt, all thanks to this video on youtube :D i reckon nothing beats watching a video coz it lets u see exactly how its being done, consistency everything. watching beats studying & reading combined and i'm so glad i decided to go on youtube instead.

all it took was one sentence from a friend - "i'm eating island creamery's pulut hitam ice cream" over MSN one day that got me into making this ice cream. island creamery's rendition is really good. smooth, coconutty, fragrant and easily one of my favorite flavors. though i didn't have a recipe to begin with, common sense tells me the easiest way to put this together is simply to find a coconut ice cream recipe and add in cooked glutinous rice that has been presoaked and boiled to a mush. and while a vanilla bean ice cream recipe will require you to place the vanilla bean pod together with the cream while bringing it to a boil, i added pandan leaves to the coconut milk. end result was a really rich and fragrant ice cream, better than i expected but a tad too cloying. might consider replacing some of the cream with milk if i'm ever gonna make this again.

i think most people would know by now that i really am a macha fanatic. i've pledged my undying love for it a million times and i just can't live without my daily strong dose of homemade macha latte, made possible with the immersion handheld blender. and while i love complex french/japanese gateaux and entremets, i adore simple french tea cakes like madeleines, financiers and caneles as well. at times when i just wanna make something simple, i usually go for madeleines and financiers instead of pound cakes, muffins or brownies. plus, my sweet friend claire gave me a really big pack of macha powder, so i just wanted to try it out :)

even though i said i wasn't gonna make anymore cupcakes, i just couldn't help it, especially not after seeing the luscious red velvet from hummingbird bakery. the only problem was finding the right recipe. two failed attempts in the past left me with rock hard and bland results fit for the trash, adding on to the fact that red velvets are notorious for being "neither here nor there" coz the taste is somewhat between a chocolate and a vanilla cake, i just wanted one from a "reputable source" this time round so i singled out magnolia bakery's and sprinkles cupcakes' recipes. both are well known cupcakeries in the US but i chose the former even though there were mixed reviews.

my first time making pizza dough from scratch and i was pretty excited about it. been dreaming about a really good parma ham & rocket pizza ever since i had it earlier this year at bistro senso but i've been procrasting about making my own coz i haven't come across any pizza dough recipe that i felt i could trust (ok i promise to use my bread baker's apprentice book by peter reinhart nx time). so happened i picked up the latest copy of donna hay (yes, again!) and there were lotsa pizza recipes in there. decided to make use of the basic dough recipe and i thought it was quite good tho' it tasted rather similar to the flatbread i made not too long ago. the only mistake i made was not brushing the dough with oil before baking, ended up with burnt bits around the sides :( and since i hv so much leftover dough in the freezer, i'm gonna make a quattro formaggi (four cheese) pizza next :) btw, parma ham is REALLY expensive. at about $2 per slice, i'm never buying again!

when i went to ion orchard twice before this, TWG was still under renovation despite the fact that most of the shops were already opened. i kinda anticipated its opening but when it finally did, i got comments like "extremely crowded. the other table is like just 4 inches away from us." i felt somewhat disappointed coz i really do wanna hv my afternoon tea in a peaceful manner. and when we arrived slightly after 2pm, it wasn't all that bad actually. we managed to secure a seat right beside the tea/pastry counter and there were still one or two empty tables around. albeit a little stuffy, everything negative's forgotten when we sat within such quaint and classy environment exuding old world charm. it just couldn't get any better than this. the place also reminds me alot of mariage frères, a tea salon in paris.

part two of the desserts i made over the past 2 mths.

pâte de fruit framboise. a french fruit jelly made with a combination of raspberry & pear puree. my 1st time working with pectin & citric acid, and a second attempt at confiserie (candy making) after caramel fleur de sel.

it must hv been more than two years since i last baked bread. even after i got my kitchenaid more than a year ago, i haven't started on using the dough hook yet. i wished i had used it sooner to knead dough coz it was such a breeze to do so. kitchenaid has been my best kitchen investment so far, followed by the immersion hand blender :p those two really made my life alot easier. and so, i came across this from donna hay magazine and the recipe looked real enticing. the thought of dipping the flatbread in olive oil & balsamic vinegar got me drooling. moreover, the recipe looked simple enough to follow (not that i'm intimidated by complicated recipes heh), just that i don't wanna spend time proofing the dough for 2 hours. this one only requires 30 mins of proofing.

i brought these to a dinner party last week and my friend, who reads my blog, has been bugging me to bring her an ispahan. since i was still very much tied up with orders and i didn't hv any raspberries on hand, i decided to make her some ispahan cupcakes instead. its been eons since i made my last cupcake and i wouldn't otherwise hv bothered if it wasn't for this particular flavor. i'm so over cupcakes anyway, and i can't stand swirls anymore coz they're so passe.

my breakfast for today - eggs benedict with hollandaise sauce on ham & toast + pineapple juice. not my first in making poached eggs but in hollandaise sauce. and maybe you already grew tired of me saying this, but my 1st attempt in making hollandaise sauce was so awesome i just couldn't believe it. previously i had been putting it off coz i always felt it was very tedious, especially after coming across this recipe. sure, its gordon ramsay's but i just wanted something simple and to boil 500ml vinegar until it reduces by half + complicated steps thereafter isn't my idea of simple. so i turned to one of my trusted sites, epicurious and settled for this instead.

i bought a box of arborio rice quite sometime ago and its been staring at me everyday since. was feeling kinda apprehensive about it since i've never made risotto before. but the ones i had outside were so good i just have make it at home.

i was totally intrigued by the coffee & chicory macarons that helen of tartelette made and toyed with the idea of doing the same too. of late i find myself being very fascinated with brush stroke patterns on plates/food etc. my first "encounter" was at 7atenine, where almost all the dishes were swiped with squid ink. then when i bought johnny iuzzini's dessert fourplay, i was even more amazed at the fluid gels on the plated desserts. i vowed to do the same. and my first attempt is with these macarons. since i was doing my macaron orders, i thought no harm making an additional batch to try out :p seriously, i think they look MUCH better than piped lines & flowers. piping is so passé. i wish i hv a dehydrator so i can make my own dehydrated fruits and then grind them into powders. a sprinkle of raspberry/strawberry powder on macarons will look darn cool too.

trying out my new glossy black acrylic board for photography. i don't think the glossy effect looks very obvious, need to try out a few more times using different subjects. and while the layering for this doesn't look very neat and the green looks kinda unappetizing, its actually a very scrummy dessert! i'm having 3 macaron orders this weekend so i just wanted to make something quick & easy. this must be one of the easiest verrines to make. no need to wait for anything to set!

recipe from here and i simply replaced the coffee & liqueur with 1 cup boiling water + macha powder + sugar (to taste).

ever since i had the blue cheese & pear burger from relish by wild rocket, i couldn't stop thinking about it. even after a second trip there (which i've yet to blog abt), i *still* find myself thinking about it. and since i couldn't afford their burgers anymore (its 17 bucks!) i had to make it myself, and i'm so glad i did. i only wish i made it earlier coz it tasted SO GOOD.

잡채 Japchae
korean stir-fried glass noodles. previously when i had it 3 times, once at a korean friend's place and twice in restaurants, i didn't like it. but my homecooked version didn't taste half as bad! maybe i was generous with the ingredients, and the sesame oil. definitely making this again, if only the 당면 (dang myeon) isn't so expensive :( i got the 500g packet for 8 bucks! in korea this is served more as a side dish but its also sufficient enough to eat it on its on as a meal. i'm also in a mood for korean food so i forsee i'll be dishing out 닭갈비 (dakgalbi), 자장면 (jajang myeon), 삼계탕 (samgyetang) & 된장 찌개 (doenjang jjigae) in no time! that should be enough to feed my hungry-for-anything-korean soul for awhile :D

Irish Beef Stew
as i ate this yum yet unpretentious bowl of beef stew, my heart literally wept. why? coz this is by far the most expensive homecooked meal, yet! as if the addition of guinness stout & red wine wasn't expensive enough, absent-minded me actually left that grocery bag on the bus, the one with the stout & the little bottle of red wine, OF ALL BAGS!! can u imagine that? that bag alone actually cost me about 20 bucks, coz i had other stuff inside, like the tarragon i intended to make hollandaise sauce with *ROAR* so i went out buying the stout & red wine AGAIN, therefore this meal ended up costing me about 30 bucks in total!

Project Vanilla

today, i'm embarking on a little project to make my own vanilla extract. when i heard about how good nielsen massey's vanilla extract was, i couldn't wait to get my hands on a bottle. but when i got it, i was sorely disappointed. i thought the whole thing reeked too much of alcohol and too little of vanilla. and to pay 20 over bucks for a meagre 118ml? just kill me. therefore i don't really use it that much but instead use the vanilla bean paste or the pods.

in continuation of my macha craze, i decided to make something macha-related again. i'm not usually a fan of chiffon or any other "rustic" cakes and anything less than 4 components simply bores me. but i bought some really cute mini angel cake tins and i just hv to use them!

i can't believe myself with all these dangerous venturing into fine dining places, one by one, and my love-hate affairs with them. love - the ambience, the chef's creations/presentations which are like works of art, always, plus impeccable service to boot. hate? probably just the price. if money was never an issue, i forsee going to these places umm..daily? haha. but i was so glad i went to jaan, coz it had been an eye-opener for me. i've been to semi-fine dining restaurants but this one...it just tops all of those i've been to, and i don't just mean the price.

last week saw me through a wedding order and some insane dessert attempts. i made lots of desserts in a span of one week or so, and i dunno where i got the energy & stamina from, consider that i was pretty much shut off few months ago. remember what i said about bringing butter or cream cheese to room temp only to put it back later? i was THAT lazy. then suddenly, i find myself churning out dessert after dessert, never feeling tired at all. basically i think i just wanna challenge myself in creating all these. and everytime i succeed on my first attempt, i get a real sense of satisfaction!

mont blanc

having traditional afternoon tea in a hotel's lobby lounge is as close to heaven as you can get, no? there's nothing not to like about sipping tea and nibbling on finger food all afternoon in a classy environment, i thought naively. so despite knowing that i'll be paying 40 bucks just for that few meagre pieces of finger food, i blatantly went ahead. but at the end of the day, i came home feeling sorely disappointed, and with a gnawing ache in my heart that wouldn't go away. why? mayb becoz i had some terribly unrealistic high expectations, of what i'm not sure. maybe becoz when i entered the acclaimed 6-star hotel, i just couldn't feel anything "6-star" about it, nothing like when i entered st. regis or shangri la. or maybe becoz the food wasn't good. or simply becoz i'm not a tea person? or maybe, ALL of the above reasons! while i couldn't say it was a lousy experience, i felt it was mediocre at best. in short, nothing to shout about.

i made some kickass & ridiculously good vanilla bean ice cream and i can't wait to share the recipe with you guys! it all started with a case of having too much leftover whipping cream from my previous attempt on the apricot panna cotta. nowadays i buy whipping cream in 1L carton instead of 200ml coz its alot more worth it that way. only about 8 bucks for 1L, compared to $3.40 for 200ml, but it'll also mean i get alot of leftovers, so what could be better than to make some cold comfort food like ice cream? vanilla bean ice cream is all i eat these days and i'm glad most patisseries are using vanilla bean in their ice cream coz you just can't beat the real stuff. and yes, i turn my nose up at the cheap supermarket variety, the kind that only use essence in them. i only regret not making it any earlier but its never too late! glad i now hv my stash of vanilla bean ice cream to call my own. and it also makes me wonder what i can't or won't do *chuckles*

if there's one cookbook that i can't stop myself from staring at the cover, this would be it - dessert fourplay by johnny iuzzini. no prizes for guessing why :p i finally got my hands on him it, dessert fourplay - sweet quartets from a four-star pastry chef by johnny iuzzini. of coz, the reason is not entirely for the man himself, but for the desserts, obviously! i'm really into plated desserts lately, in fact, i'm just too intrigued and fascinated by them that i blew 95 bucks on another one, frozen desserts by culinary institute of america & francisco migoya not too long ago. while i'm not sure if i'm ever gonna be able to make (or plate) them, these books are just too good 2b missed. pictures & recipes aside, i read them like i would an encyclopedia coz they're really chockful of useful information. anyway, back to this book. dessert fourplay is categorized into four seasons, each "major" dessert comprising of 4 mini ones in tasting portions/shooters, hence the name. everything looks so beautiful that i just can't decide where to begin. i finally settled for this coz its the easiest among the lot. no need for baking nor choc tempering, no need to hunt for difficult-to-find ingredients like maltodextrin & inverted sugar syrup, no need for bombastic equipment like an N2O charger cartridge to make espuma (the foam/emulsion thingy). the least intimidating but just as visually stunning i would say, tho' it still involves quite a no. of steps. tastewise, pretty light and not too sweet. LOVES the mint gelee that goes suprisingly well with the apricot, though it does reminds you of eating lamb. will be attempting other desserts from the book soon coz need to make sure my money is well spent :p

not too long ago, i finally plucked up the courage to try blue cheese and i fell in love with it immediately. i wished i tried it earlier but i just didn't hv guts to. while extremely strong & pungent and definitely an acquired taste, it's really addictive. i love the savory scent and the yeasty beer-like aftertaste that lingers in my mouth. while good on its own, i love them with crackers, grapes & dried figs. i must try it with wine one of these days and perhaps come up with my own antipasti & cheese platter :p and then, i've been dreaming about making a creamy, chunky soup for a long time now but never really gotten around it. i actually had a few options in mind - cauliflower, pea & ham, clam chowder, mushroom, pumpkin & carrot etc but when i came across this recipe, i knew i had to try it.

a continuation from the previous topic on ice cream, this is something i made quite sometime ago. i promptly forgot all about it (actually its more like i didn't wanna post it coz this pic is really ugly). one blogger commented that it looks like century egg on 1st glance :( well, i hv to agree! the shape & color i guess, plus i couldn't really get a good picture in this sweltering heat. that is why i hate to photograph ice cream coz i can't take my own sweet time! then again i must post this coz its a really really good recipe. i've seen some black sesame ice cream recipes that use just ground sesame seeds but i think the flavor would be very mild, judging from the looks of it. whereas this one, it uses black sesame paste so its really potent & concentrated, as u can see! i like to order this whenever i'm out for japanese, or when i visit meidi-ya. so yes i think it comes very close to the japanese version.

Caramel Fleur de Sel

i love caramels but i love salted caramels even more! i've been DYING to make these, but hv been putting it off since i didn't hv fleur de sel (flower of salt). been looking around for the best - preferably one from the guérande region in france but i couldn't find. not even the le saunier de camargue's :( ended up i settled for the slovenia produced one which is actually not cheap too. $15 for a 125g jar which i bought from fairprice finest last weekend.

Happy Valentine's Day!

the coeur ispahan (ispahan heart), inspired by pierre herme's valentine's day series. made this for the fun of it, and this is the 1st time i tried my hands on heart-shaped macarons :D

happy v-day, people! ♥