Smokey Chicken Stroganoff

I watched a lot of Gordon Ramsay's The F-Word earlier this summer. I rather enjoy it - it's a pretty fun show, and although the cooking isn't really in focus, some of the food looks really good. This recipe caught my eye, and although I've changed a few things from the original (which can be found here) it came out delicious. Next time, I'll use crème fraîche rather than sour cream, since I don't really like the graininess the sour cream gets when it's heated.

You can serve this with pasta, bulgur or rice (or anything else you can think of - Ramsay served it with spätzle).

Smokey Chicken Stroganoff
(printable recipe)
serves 2-3

450 g boneless chicken (thighs or breast)
2 tsp smoked paprika (we use the hot kind)
3 tbsp olive oil
1 green pepper, sliced
100 g button mushrooms, sliced
100 ml water
50 ml white wine
50 ml sour cream
75 g sugar snap peas

Start by blanching the sugar snap peas - place them in boiling water for a few minutes, and drain.

Cut the chicken into smaller pieces. Season with smoked paprika and fry in the olive oil for a few minutes. Add the pepper and mushrooms and fry those as well. Add the white wine and water, and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes or until the chicken is completely cooked through and the liquid has reduced a bit. (Add more water if it looks dry.) Stir in the sour cream and the peas, and serve.

Recipe in Swedish:
Rökig Kycklingstroganoff

Luxury

A real favorite for us is to pick out lots of great charkuteries, add some cheese, maybe some olives, a loaf of bread... and call that dinner.

This spread has bresaola, lomo, pata negra ham, parma ham and Spanish fuet sausage.

Quick dinner

We always keep frozen hamburgers at hand, and hamburger buns as well. They're perfect for a quick dinner. I like my burgers simple - cheese, maybe a slice of onion, and perhaps some hot barbecue sauce - but with a nice salad on the side. This is a potato salad with capers, sunblush tomatoes and feta cheese - it was really good.

Blueberry Scones

Something tasty for a weekend breakfast or brunch, perhaps? I made these last weekend, and my inspiration was perhaps a bit odd. See, we are huge fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and we are re-watching all the episodes. Again. And there's this quote, in season 3, where Giles accuses Wesley of having as much emotional maturity as a... blueberry scone. And I couldn't stop thinking about them.

Blueberry Scones
(printable recipe)
8

500 ml flour, plus 1 tbsp
1 tbsp baking powder
3 tbsp sugar
pinch of salt
85 g unsalted butter, plus 1 tbsp
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
250 ml single cream (somewhere around 15-20% fat content)
200 ml frozen blueberries

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Mix the frozen blueberries with the one tablespoon of flour, and place back in the freezer.

Mix flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a food processor. Add the butter - which should be cold - and run until it's mixed in. Move the crumby mixture to a bowl, and add the vanilla and the cream. Fold in the blueberries.

Pat this very sticky dough into a flattish circle, about 3 cm high. Divide into eight wedges, and carefully move the triangles to a lined baking sheet. Leave some room between them, they will rise a bit. Place a little pat of butter on top of each one.

Bake for about 15 minutes.

Recipe in Swedish:
Blåbärsscones

The right vitamins for you!

Before this, i never really bother about this till yesterday when i was at The Mall for lunch and i entered a pharmacy since they've got sale on some vitamins and supplements. While I was talking to the pharmacist about some vitamins she gave me a free scan where they scan your fingernail and from there they'll know what kinda supplements or vitamins you're lacking of.

As for me, i need to take more Selenium for anti-oksidant and calcium since i'm lacking of these two.

So, starting from next month, I'll make the effort to spend some on food supplements and vitamins cos it's very important especially nowadays when life evolves with facing the laptop, TV, college, work and there's no time to actually take care of ourselves. So, at least with the aid of vitamins and food supplements will keep you maintain a good health.

Of course, balanced- diet also play an important role in order to get the right amount of vitamin and supplement needed for the body.

Confetti Risotto

When I grew up, "risotto" meant regular long-grain rice with stuff in it. It was commonly served for school lunch, with little bits of ham, corn and peas, and it was really quite awful. But the combination wasn't bad, and I thought I should make a classic, creamy risotto but with those same add-ins. Perfect!

Space candy

There's a Swedish candy, made by Ahlgrens, called "bilar". That means "cars", and cars they are. Small, foamy cars, in pink, white and green. They're delicious - one of my favorite types of candy. And apparently our Swedish astronaut Christer Fuglesang likes them too, because he's taking them into space on the soon-to-leave (hopefully) space shuttle! Pretty cool! Because of this, Ahlgrens decided to do a very very very limited run of "space shuttles" rather than cars, in a special bag. They're only making 100 bags - and I have one!

It's up for grabs - just leave a comment (and make sure I can reach you if you win) and tell me what candy YOU would take with you on a space shuttle!

Snaps

We had our annual crawfish party last weekend, and I have to show this very pretty picture. It's vodka, flavored with various things from Dagmar's garden: gooseberries, cherries and wild strawberries. She also made a version with lime, one with cinnamon and one with heather.

These are all very good examples of "snaps", and that is the preferred drink at crawfish parties. That, along with beer.

Lucky us!

We got invited for Apple crumble tonight. Mmmm!

Batu Caves

BATU CAVES

Hmmm…before I talk about Batu Caves, let me just explain something about my bf. This guy has this funny thing (I don’t know how should I say but it’s kinda weird and funny...in a cute way though) or tendency that whenever I asked him to bring me out or ‘LET’S GO OUT?!’. He’ll bring me to weird places…more like tourists attraction places like the Zoo, Bird Park (not yet but I’m guessing coming soon since he talks about it a lot), Batu Caves, Genting Highland and so on…

Coz usually (I bet this goes the same to everyone) when we said ‘LET’S GO OUT!’ it just simply means a day out at the mall for lunch or movie just hanging out and stuffs, not much of an extravaganza event or something!
The 1st time I asked him to bring me out, he brought me to the ZOO!!! So, there I was with him and his friends hanging out at the zoo watching all the animals which was kinda cool actually since my 20 years of living here in Malaysia, I never even stepped into our own national zoo! And on the 19th July was my 1st time stepping into the zoo and actually see how it was!
Anyways, back to the main point, so last weekend since we haven’t been out for quite sometimes, I asked him to go hang out!

By starting with a simple question,

Me : Let’s go out?!?!
Him : Where do you wanna go?
Me : I dunno, anywhere lah… I just wanna get out of the house for awhile, go somewhere and chill.
Him : (Excited) Let’s go to Batu Caves!
Me : Alright then (reluctantly)

Lol! So, we went to Batu Caves! It didn’t start well coz it was raining heavily and while waiting for the rain to stop, we took our lunch and just chilled at the mall near his place.

We just got there...

While at Batu Caves, we just walked around sightseeing and walked up the 200++ stairs!!! Gosh it was tiring, really! It turns out to be ok actually (if not coz of the headache I had coz of the rain earlier) we just went from one temple to another temple and at one point, the priest gave us the red patch (I think it's called Kum Kum) on our foreheads! The guys took some pictures with the snakes which later that night gave me nightmares (snakes everywhere and I couldn’t escape)! I never liked snakes!

While the guys were busy with the picture taking with the snakes, I was just walking around in the temple and an Indian girl maybe around 2 or 3 years of age went to me and started clinging on me even when her daddy wanted to take her home, she just started hugging me and asked me to carry her! Lol! She’s so cute!

Towards the end of the trip, we went to the souvenir shop. I didn’t plan to get anything though since I didn’t have any cash with me but then my bf bought me this really nice, tribal, vintage looking necklace! It’s sooo my taste!!! Really beautiful! After they’ve done buying everything, then we realized, we had no money to get a cab to go home… but then, we still made it home though…Lol!

Sometimes some girls are just TOO much!

Even though most time I’ll be writing about how unfair the world or the society towards the women but sometimes, I don’t blame the guys for doing so actually, when I said that, I meant when they just used girls for sex or talked about certain girls or just dumped her after one night stand! I know it’s weird and mean but some girls just deserve to be treated that way!

The reason I’m saying this is that, I’ve seen and known two girls (Girl A & Girl B) maybe about few months ago. At 1st glance meeting them, they looked really sweet and nice. Never that it even crossed my mind or I even thought that they are that kinda ‘girl’ (let me just tell the whole story 1st).
One day, after few weeks meeting girl A, we started hanging out and just have fun like having girl’s night out and movies. That time, I still didn’t notice anything bad about her or anything. But till one day, when she asked me if I wanna hang out with her to the mall and watch movie. The story continues when after that we went to my bf’s place (that time he was not my bf yet) to chill coz they were having dinner and he invited us over. And since it was late, so we decided to stay there for the night. And while we were there, girl A started flirting with one of the guy (Mr. O) there (my bf’s housemate which is also my friend) and it disturbed me coz she has a bf and I know she’s not serious about it and the fact that the guy she’s flirting with is my friend..(a very good friend actually) but I just ignored it thinking that maybe my friend (Mr. O) would understand that she’s just flirting and don’t take it seriously too coz he knew that she has a bf. But it started to go out of control, Mr. O started to have feelings for her and even willing to be her 2nd bf. Maybe coz of that, she started using the guy, like asking money from him, used their place like a hotel. Whenever she went out to meet her bf, and if it’s too late and she can’t go back to her hostel coz of the curfew, she’ll go back to Mr. O’s place (which is also my bf’s plc!) and these kinda things.
Till one time, when we were out to see my bf’s band performed, she was flirting with the other guy (the guitarist of the band) in front of Mr. O.
I realized that, and even though Girl A is my friend but Mr. O is also my friend, and what Girl A is doing is seriously unacceptable. So I went to talk to Mr. O and told him to ‘pull it out of the girl’, just forget about her and ignore her! Well, for his own sake, he listened to what I said! And since then, Mr. O ignores Girl A but Girl A keeps calling him and at one point, when she can’t get through Mr. O, she went to the guitarist place. Since then, the guys started to talk about her and believes me, if any guy would say those things about me, I seriously don’t even know where to put my face anymore! Probably I’ll dig a hole and bury myself alive coz of shame!

One thing I don’t understand is that, of all those things she has done, she still has the guts to call Mr. O at 5 in the morning to ask if she can come over to their place! And also, all the while she’s been worrying if her bf would cheat on her with other girls. That’s when my bf actually said something offensive to her like (which I totally agree with), ‘If you’re scared about your bf cheating on you, then what are you doing flirting around with other guys and spending nights at their place?’

Well, that’s something about Girl A. Now, it’s about Girl B.

With Girl B it’s a bit different, she doesn’t really flirt around even when the fact that she actually has 2 BFs (used to be 4 before). Anyways, she’s not the kinda girl who goes around to guys’ house and asking money or flirt around but she’s the type who likes to take advantages over other people’s kindness especially the guys! I used to bring her with me whenever I’m out with my friends before and I don’t mind actually but what I hate the most about her is that, she just loves taking advantages! If she knows my friends would be paying for lunch or dinner, she’ll order the most expensive meal she can find in the menu! Or start ordering a lot of things till in the end, she herself might not be able to finish ‘em!
That’s the 1st thing; the second thing is that, she has a bad tendency or habit of stealing. She tends to steal something she might like or need! I don’t get it! Some people, they don’t seem to have brain to think! It’s like parasite! You’re stealing from the person or the people who has done some good deed for you! How could they do that?!?! At one point, I kinda ignored that bad habit of hers, but it got worse! I caught her red handed stealing my bikini (and some other things) and my bf’s necklace and a very expensive Zippo lighter!
Starting from that moment, I never want to bring her with me anymore, even if I feel sorry that she has to be alone over the weekend but I couldn’t bear bringing a thief with me to hang out with my friends! God knows what else she would steal! And I’ll be blame for it!
Please take note that I’m not here to judge anyone nor I want to gossip coz I know I, myself is not perfect either but I’m just here to remind certain girls that DO NOT act this way coz some of you might think that the guys are stupid but seriously, they’re smart! And certain guys actually know what type of girls they are from their looks and the way the girls carry themselves! Probably that’s why; don’t be surprised if certain guys never take any girls seriously! It’s probably because of these kinda situations!

Chili Rosemary Marinated pork

Here's something we've made a lot this summer. It's a really simple marinade, but it goes so well with thin slices of pork. We use pork loin, but feel free to experiment. It's fast and easy to throw on the barbecue, and goes well with any kind of fresh salad. You can top it with some lemon zest and finely chopped cilantro, if you feel like it - it's good without it, too.

Chili Rosemary Marinated pork
(printable recipe)

Serves 4

800 g loin of pork, thinly sliced

marinade:
150 ml olive oil
salt
pepper
1-2 dried chilies (peperoncino), crumbled
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
2 bay leaves, crumbled



Mix everything and let the meat marinate for at least 3-4 hours. Cook on a barbecue if you can, the slightly charred flavor will be amazing!

Recipe in Swedish:
Chili & Rosmarinmarinerad fläskkarré

Banana Cream Pie

Banana cream pie has a certain lore to it doesn't it? It makes me think of 24 hour diners or grandmas. Do grandmas make banana cream pies? Who MAKES banana cream pies?? When I used to play music in bands, I remember touring and visiting a place called House of Pies in Houston, Texas. They had every conceivable pie and it was beautiful to look at. They also had 24 hour steaks, burgers, breakfast, etc...

This is the second year in a row I've made a banana cream pie for my good pal Josh on his birthday. He loves pies. I love how people love certain things. I guess I would be construed as loving pizza, and ice cream. I'd like to get better at making pies. It's a personal goal of mine!

So let me tell you about this pie. I got the recipe from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, but instead of a traditional crust I made a graham cracker crust. I loooove graham cracker. I love S'mores so much. I love them so much some friends call me S'mung (my last name is Sung). The pie was very easy to make, just took some patience and some attention. I love how the cream custard filling thickens SO SUDDENLY! It's so cool. As soon as those bubbles start in the middle and suddenly you're stirring The Blob.

My tiny chef

Well, not that tiny! Titus is three months old, and over 7 kilos. He can finally model his very first chef's hat, which he got from our talented friend Nikka. So cute!!

Tickets to Smaklust

***updated*** I wish I had tickets for all you guys! The winner has been contacted - so sorry or those that didn't win.

This weekend, it's time for Smaklust in Stockholm. This is a food festival, celebrating artisan food craft from all over Sweden, and I was at the same event last time they had it - two years ago. I went to a workshop about Suovas and that was really interesting.

I don't know that I'm brave enough to go this year - with the baby - but if you're in Stockholm, you should! The festival itself is free, but you need tickets for the workshops. (You can read more about them here.) As it happens, I have two tickets. If you want them, just leave a comment and I'll randomly draw a winner! But do it fast - I'll pick a winner on Wednesday.

Amityville Horror!

My day started when i woke up at 7 this morning just so that i can go to college and print my assignment papers that took less than 2 minutes! GOD!!!! And the whole day spoiled cos i was feeling dizzy and kinda headache cos of the early wake up. Then, around 2 i took a nap, and honestly it was sooooooo NICE!!!!!!!! Even though it's hot outside but my room was so cold! i even used my blanket when i slept! I forced myself to wake up after that cos i need to go pee! =( was trying to get back tpo sleep but i cant, so me and my roommate who happen to also just woke up, went downstairs to get some 'pisang goreng' (banana fritters) for our tea-time while watching Amityville Horror! i was too into the movie that i dint realised that i was late for my 7pm lecture, so i skipped it... *sigh*

It was ok, but i kinda doubt whether it is actually based on a true story cos it looks too perfect for a real story!

Fish Soup

After making the aioli a few nights ago, I had leftovers. What to do? I wanted fries, but the Swedish potatoes are probaly not starchy enough to make good fries yet, and I wasn't sure about a frittata either. I did a shout-out on Twitter, and ended up craving a fish soup.

Fish isn't really my forte, but this one was a true winner. You can mix and match - add more veggies, other types of fish, shellfish... I used what I had, which was a frozen block of cod fillets, and a few slices of cured salmon - gravlax - and those worked very well.

Fish Soup
(printable recipe)
Serves 4

2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp tomato purée
2 carrots, coarsely grated
a large handful of shredded leeks
a large handful of finely sliced fennel
150 ml white wine
3 medium potatoes, diced
1-1,5 litres water
2 bay leaves
2 tomatoes, diced
fennel fronds, if your bulb has them
zest from 1/2 lemon
salt, pepper
pinch of sugar
400 g cod, in large dice
100 g cured salmon in thin slices

Heat the oil and fry the carrots on high heat in a big pot. Add the tomato purée and continue frying until the carrots are nicely golden. Add fennel and leeks and fry some more. Add the wine and let it bubble vigorously. Lower the heat and add the potatoes, 1 litre of water and bay leaves. Use the remaining water to thin the soup if you feel that you want to. Simmer, covered, until the potatoes are mostly softened. Remove the bay leaves, and at this point, I used an immersion blender to make the soup a little thicker. I didn't purée it, just blitzed for a little while so that some of it broke up and thickened the rest. Use more water if it gets too thick for your liking.

Season the soup with salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar. Add the diced tomatoes, fennel fronds, and the lemon zest. Now, add the fish - the cod at first, and let that simmer for 3-4 minutes. Add the salmon and stir, it'll just take a minute.

Serve with aioli and a tasty bread.

Recipe in Swedish
Fisksoppa

Homemade Aioli

What's your favorite ingredient at the moment? Mine: eggs. It's just so versatile! Yesterday, I had a boiled egg for breakfast, made macarons from egg whites, a lovely buttercream with egg yolks, and then I whipped up a batch of homemade aioli. All very different foods, but all based on eggs. And all absolutely fabulous!

I've never been one to eat a lot of mayo, so I don't really see the point of making my own. However, we had our annual crawfish party last night, and it occurred to me about an hour before the guests were due to arrive that an aioli - that is, a garlicky mayo, popular in France and Spain (where it's called allioli) - would go down very well. I had never made one before, so I googled a few recipes, plucked a little here, a little there, and got started.

Many say that you have to use egg yolks at room temperature - well, I didn't have time, and it turned out fine anyway. I used half olive oil, half neutral rapeseed oil, since I think that all olive oil can be a little over-powering. I used my Kitchen-Aid, but I'm sure a handheld mixer, a blender or even a food processor would work equally well. Or hey, a good old whisk, if you're so inclined!

(...and Swedish eggs don't have salmonella, so I'm not concerned about eating raw yolks. If you are, this recipe is not for you.)

Homemade Aioli
(printable recipe)

2 egg yolks
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp white wine vinegar (I used white balsamic)
pinch of salt
125 ml rapeseed oil
125 ml olive oil

Mince the garlic. Mix with the egg yolks, lemon, vinegar and salt in a bowl. Start whisking, and while you wisk, add the oils, teaspoon by teaspoon. It will thicken and swell, until you have a lovely fluffy cream.

Keeps for about a week in the fridge.

Recipe in Swedish:
Hemgjord Aioli

Crawfish party!

Frozen Tiramisu Cake

How about a nice dessert for the weekend? This is perfect if you have guests, since it can be prepared in advance... and the leftovers will keep well, too, as long as you keep them frozen.

I love tiramisu - but mostly the creaminess, and not so much the boring sponge. This cake has less cake, and more frozen creamy goodness, so I find it rather perfect. I think it'd be nice to add some more chocolate - maybe chocolate sponge layers, or a thin layer of chocolate mousse... or truffle. Well, that's for another time.

You can use store-bought cake layers, or make your own - I went with ones from the store.

Frozen Tiramisu Cake
(printable recipe)

4 eggs
150 ml sugar, divided
500 g mascarpone
100 ml marsala wine
200 ml cream (heavy, double, whipping or whatever the fattiest one is called in your country.)
2 layers from a pre-made cake
3 tbsp frangelico or amaretto liqueur
5 tbsp strong coffee or espresso, cooled
15 dark chocolate disks, for decoration
cocoa powder, for decoration

Separate the eggs into yolks and whites and place in two bowls. Beat the egg whites with 50 ml of the sugar until they're stiff and glossy. Beat the yolks with the remaining 100 ml of sugar until pale and fluffy. Stir in the mascarpone and the marsala.

Whisk the cream until thick and fluffy, and fold into the egg yolk mixture. Finally fold in the egg whites.

Mix coffee and frangelico or amaretto in a small bowl.

Place one cake layer in a springform tin (mine is 24 cm in diameter). Spoon over half of the coffee mixture, and then half of the creamy filling. Place the other cake layer on top, moisten with the rest of the coffee mix and cover with the rest of the filling.

Place in the freezer for at least five hours, or over night. Let it soften slightly before serving, and decorate with chocolate disks and cocoa powder.

Recept på engelska:
Frusen tiramisutårta

Crazy About Japanese Food

Me, me, MEEE! I am crazy about Japanese food. Also, Chinese food too, seeing that I am Chinese. Also, many many many other types of foods. But this post is dedicated to the delighfully delicious treats I had at this year's Powell Street Festival here in Vancouver, BC!

I also performed with my conceptual synthpop art group GUIMAUVES at this event, dressed as blobs from space, with our set geared towards the kiddies!!

me, my cutie nephew Brody in his crab yukata, and my sis Leanne!

I am on the right hand side. My good pal Raf is on the left. Three megafans up front.

Delicious potato croquettes!

Delightfully fresh tako yaki-- fried octopus fritter balls!!

my fave, kaki gori-- shave ice with sweet red bean, mochi, green tea syrup and condensed milk...

fried tofu with miso sauce!

okonomiyaki with chicken yakitori skewer! Party pancake with beef and delightful toppings, including bonito flakes, mayo, Bulldog sauce and shredded ginger.

Imagawayaki-- pancakes filled with sweet red bean... love love love these... Check out this cuteness and coolness, wish I could order these!

Fried noodle with a side of croquette!

This is a guide with photos on how to make your own OKONOMIYAKI! Enjoy!

Until next year, Powell Street Festival... Sigh...

Fast Food At Home: Falafel

Fast food at home - just not so fast! I have to admit that I prefer to use a mix for falafel rather than making them from scratch. It's a bit embarrassing - but I just haven't had much luck making them myself. Anyway - we make them according to the instructions on the box, and eat them with fresh veggies and "raitziki" in pita breads. Lovely!

Chanterelles are here again

Well, I have chanterelles all year round in my freezer, if I'm lucky - but it's now that they're actually in season! If you can find some, either in the forest or in the supermarket, do try an omelet. They go so well with the creamy eggs. Just fry them up in a separate pan with some butter, salt and black pepper, add more things if you'd like (we had arugula) and then use them to top a plain omelet.

Classic

Coffee and a cinnamon bun at Helmers konditori in Mora.

Fast Food At Home: Pad Thai

Our favorite thing to order from our local Thai place is Chicken Pad Thai. They make it so well, and it really is delicious. Sadly, it's also pretty pricey. (We pay 110 SEK per portion, which is about $15.) When shopping at one of the Asian stores in the city, my eye fell on a jar of Pad Thai Sauce, and I brought it home. It sat undisturbed in my cupboard for several months - I'm really not adventurous and quite wary - especially of canned things. Finally though, I tried it. And it was great! We'll most definitely be making our own Pad Thai again - it's even faster than driving to the take out place. I actually tried making my own sauce too, but more on that for another day.

Melander's Shrimp Sandwich

I can't remember if I've already told you about this, but I can't find a post so probably not! It's one of our newest fast-food finds, and it's tons better than the usual suspect, both in terms of flavor and healthiness. Unfortunately in price, as well, but once in a while, it's definitely worth it.

So - what is it? It's a shrimp sandwich. It's quite traditional in Sweden - usually a mound of fresh shrimp on a soft and slightly sweet bread, with sliced boiled eggs and mayonnaise. This one also has avocado and tomato, and a little bit of lettuce. What you can't really tell from the photo is the size - this thing was huge! It's the size of a dinner plate, and was plenty of food for two meals. We had mistakenly bought one each, but there was no way we could finish them. Next time, we'll share!

Where to get this deliciousness then? Melander's Fisk in Nacka Forum, and possibly in their other locations as well, but I can't say for sure. It costs 175 SEK, but I assure you that it's well worth it.

Zabaglione Gelato

I've only made ice cream once so far this summer, but with all the egg yolks I keep getting from my macaron experiments, I hope I can make some more soon. Having just opened a bottle of marsala, I wanted to try this zabaglione gelato from my favorite ice cream book: The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz. I loved it, especially with fresh strawberries, but my ungrateful husband thought it tasted too alcoholic and even compared it to the old alcopop Hooper's Hooch! Suffice to say, I finished it myself.

Zabaglione Gelato
(printable recipe)

250 ml full-fat milk
130 g sugar
pinch of salt
finely zested peel of a small lemon
6 egg yolks
375 ml double cream
125 ml marsala

Pour the cream into a large bowl and place a sieve on top.

Mix milk, sugar, salt and lemon zest in a sauce pan and warm until the sugar has dissolved.

Beat the egg yolks in a bowl. While whisking, slowly add the warm milk mixture. When everything is mixed, pour it back into the saucepan, and gently heat until the mixture thickens. It will take a few minutes on medium heat and you have to stir it the whole time.

Pour the creamy mixture through the sieve and into the cream. Mix well, and add the marsala. Place to cool completely, preferrably in the fridge over night. Run in an ice cream machine according to instructions - mine took about 25 minutes. Scrape into a container and keep in the freezer.

Recipe in Swedish:
Zabaglione Gelato

Taxi fares has rise up!!! *sigh*

GOSH! Taxi fares has rise up and seriously it does give me a big impact!!!! You see, i travel to my bf's plc most time and usually it will cost me around RM7-RM8 or RM10 the most and that's if i use the 'calling service' but recently since the taxi fares has rise up and now it's really expensive and i dont know how this new meter taxi works! seriously!!!

Cos before this, when you entered a taxi, the meter started from RM2, but now it's RM3...ok fair enough maybe RM2 is too low and petrol price is also increasing nowawdays but then i noticed that the meter is changing too fast! like earlier today when i was coming back from my bf's place, it cost me RM14.40!!!!!!!!! Seriously, if it starts at RM3, understood probably it'll cost me around RM 9- RM10 or RM12 the most BUT RM14???? that's too much!

A great "'wich" from 'Wichcraft

I know of Tom Colicchio from Top Chef, which is hands down one of my favorite TV shows. I've never had the opportunity to eat at any of his establishments, and being the book junkie I am, I was thrilled when 'Wichcraft came out. It has a clever tagline - "Craft a sandwich into a meal - and a meal into a sandwich". And some of the sandwiches are very clever indeed - I can't wait to try the red wine-braised flank steak with roasted peppers, onions and gruyère, or the fairly simple breakfast sandwich with kumquat-rosemary marmalade on goat cheese.



So far though, I've only made one sandwich, but several times. It's really simple - caramelized onions with a little bit of oregano, and cheese. Colicchio uses gruyère, but I've also used a well-aged Dutch cheese to great success, and honestly, as long as the cheese has plenty of flavor, it should do very well in this.

Lavender Macarons with Chocolate Honey Ganache

Another macaron attempt! It went very well this time as well - I really feel like I'm getting the hang of this! Not only is it great fun, but they taste so good. I served these for Titus' baptism party along with lots of other goodies, and they were extremely popular. I really liked the combination of the floral lavender flavor with the bitterness of the chocolate, tempered by the sweetness of the honey. White chocolate ganache would also have been nice!

Lavender Macarons with Chocolate Honey Ganache
18-20 filled cookies
(printable recipe)

3 egg whites, at room temperature
2 tbsp caster sugar (or in my case, homemade vanilla sugar)
200 g powdered sugar
110 g almonds, blanched
1/2 tbsp dried lavender
violet food coloring (I use Wiltons gel colors)

160 g dark chocolate
100 ml double cream
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp runny honey

Combine powdered sugar, lavender and almonds in your food processor, and grind until very fine. Sieve. Re-grind any lumps or big pieces of almonds. Mix carefully (they tend to separate a little bit when sieving, since the sugar falls through first.)

Beat egg whites and sugar until you have a thick, glossy meringue. Don't overbeat. Stir in the almond-sugar powder, and fold together along with the food coloring. Don't overmix this - most seem to say that you should use less than 50 strokes. (You can try it by dolloping a little batter on a baking sheet - if the peak falls down, it's ready. If it doesn't, try a few more strokes.)

Pipe small rounds on a baking sheet with baking paper. If you'd like, sprinkle some extra ground almonds on half of them. Leave at room temperature for 30-60 minutes, to form a skin.

Bake at 150°C for 15-20 minutes. (I have a convection oven, and 15 minutes was perfect for me.) Let them cool completely before filling. Unused shells can be frozen, or kept in an air-tight container for a day or so.

Chocolate Honey Ganache:

Chop the chocolate and place in a bowl. Mix cream and honey in a small saucepan and heat until just about boiling. Pour this over the chocolate and stir until smooth. Add a pinch of salt. Let the ganache cool until it's thick enough to spread - you can speed this up by placing it in the fridge for a while. If it gets too thick, it can be heated gently in the microwave until it's the right consistency. Spread some on half of the macaron shells, top with the rest, and press down gently. Keep cookies in fridge for a few days, freeze or eat right away!

Recipe in Swedish:
Lavendelmacarons med chokladganache

Lunch

Chicken salad with edamame, cucumber, nectarine, avocado, peppers and parmesan.

Annoying Situation!

Hmmm...just wondering here...

Have anyone of you girls out there ever encounter this situation? you're out with your bf and maybe some of his friends (let's say at a restaurant or starbucks) and a minute another girls step into the place, everyone just stop doing whatever they're doing and just started staring at the girls and make 'ehem ehem' sound or start saying 'wow wow she's hot!!!" and you, the gf is just there acting as if it's ok when it's actually NOT! what will you guys basically do in this kinda situation?
well understood even at the 1st plc they just meant it as a joke or not something serious but somehow you do feel kinda annoyed.

1st, cos ur the gf and he actually does that in front of you and it seems like he just doesnt even seem to bother how you as the gf would feel!!

2nd, it's just rude!

3rd, it's annoying!

seriously, i don't understand certain people, they just can't seem to control themselves! i mean, it's ok to look or just take a glance at someone but not till you have to make sound till it looks so obvious!

What's A Cobbler?

From Scrambled: Black Raspberry Cobbler:

"Let's make a pie!" he said.

"Let's make a cobbler!" I countered.

"What's a cobbler?" he asked. The actual answer is that a cobbler is what I am capable of making since I cannot make pie crust (I KNOW. feel free to teach me) but I am pretty good with forgiving doughs that are intended to be rustic and ugly.

Cobbler is too complex for me. I'm a bigger fan of shortcake, where I whip up biscuits and put fruit on top of them and garnish it with mint leaves (did I tell you I'm growing mint? And I haven't killed it yet!) and call it a fancy dessert.

I just re-read that part where I said "whip up biscuits" and I think it's time to leave the south.

Via Scrambled: Black Raspberry Cobbler.