Purple Sweet Potato Chiffon

i bought some really beautiful purple sweet potatoes during the weekend and immediately set my eyes on this. i've seen this on several blogs and the violet amethyst-like cubes embedded within the cake really caught my attention. i guess i just hv this weakness for pretty desserts (and purple sweet potatoes).

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Hidemi Sugino's Fruits Rouges フリュイ・ルーヅュ

biscuit joconde sans beurre avec confiture framboise, gelee aux fruits rouges, mousse aux fruits rouges, glaçage framboise

my first recipe from hidemi sugino's le goût authentique retrouvé and i'm really happy with it. i think i must be crazy to purchase a japanese book when i don't understand a word of it but i just couldn't resist coz first, he's a famous pastry chef, secondly the recipes are all so fantastic! some of my friends were really kind to offer help to translate but i just don't wanna impose on them. they can afterall help translate one but not the whole book, which is frankly what i need. you would wanna fully utilize the book too if you had spent close to a hundred bucks on it. so while half-heartedly trying to memorize all the hiragana & katakana characters, i gave up in the end and went ahead with this recipe. luckily the ingredient portion was written in french as well so i could understand a little. it was not all that difficult since this is not the 1st time i've attempted to make a cake without the given methods/steps.

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Ddeokbokki 떡볶이 - Spicy Korean Rice Cakes

ddeokbokki is a popular snack food that is commonly sold by street vendors in korea. i've tried them a couple of times in korea but didn't really like it coz i find it kinda bland and not sweet enough for my liking. i like mine really sweet and generously doused with lotsa sesame oil and sesame seeds, something which i find lacking from the ones in korea so i love making this at home coz its so easy and i can tweak it according to my own preference. the authentic recipe uses cabbage and spring onion/scallions but i didn't hv both so i omitted.

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iPhone Love

i've just gotten an iphone three weeks ago. i know i'm very behind-times coz lotsa people hv used it for like 2-3 years already but im just not willing to splurge on a phone so i was patiently waiting for the price to go down. for my love of photography especially the lomo/medium format/cross processing/film/toy camera type of photos, im really elated that there are lotsa apps that allow me to simulate that "look". my favorite are the hipstamatic and instagram apps.

berrylite froyo with strawberries & mochi, view from my bedroom window at dusk

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Éclairs au Café (Coffee Eclairs)

what comes to mind when you think of eclairs? are they just vanilla custard choux puffs with a hastily applied chocolate glaze which look ugly rustic at best? to me, they're far from that boring ol' combination of vanilla and chocolate. when i think eclairs, i think fauchon, the hyperluxe gourmet food shop in paris. fauchon is definitely synonymous with eclairs and here's why. decked in all sorts of flavors and designs imaginable, from the mona lisa eyes to garden peas to leopard prints on the icing, you'll never look at eclairs the same way again. even without all these adornments i feel that an eclair should be elegant looking - long and thin and topped with a shiny fondant glaze. therefore i started by trying out a relatively safe coffee flavor and pairing them with coffee creme patissiere, coffee fondant glaze + cocoa nibs for that extra crunch.

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Happy Birthday to Me!

lemon chocolate - chocolate biscuit joconde, hazelnut praline brittle, lemon curd, lemon praline mousse, chocolate mousse, chocolate lacquer glaze.

my birthday falls on the 7th and i had an early celebration with the family yesterday. as usual i was expected to bring a cake so i decided on this, a lemon choc cake. the unfortunate thing is that it collapsed on the long journey to my aunt's home so i didn't bother taking a pic of the insides. should hv added some gelatin to the choc mousse :( the good thing is, everyone raved about it, including the gf whom i shared a slice with. she said my cake tasted like canele patisserie's so its really a huge compliment :)

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