Monday, February 21, 2011

Doux Japonais cheesecake II

J'aime beaucoup japonais cheesecake. Cette dessert est très populaire parmi de nombreux Asiatiques à Singapour. J'aime toujours mes desserts en petites bouchées. Je suis heureux avec la recette que j'ai utilisée précédemment. Au lieu de farine à gâteau, je vais utiliser de la farine supérieure. Vous pouvez trouver la recette ici ou sous ma cheesecake catégorie.

Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks.

Ils ne sont pas parfaits parce que ma four est vieux. Besoin d'une nouvelle four. Hehe :)

Cette dessert a une texture légère et douce par rapport à New York cheesecake. Bon appetit!

PS: Pardon my not so perfect french here. I'm learning french now, so I am trying to write my food article in french as much as I can. Right now, my article has less than 100 words. I hope in the next few more months, I can write more than 100 words on my blog; in better french too. (*v*) So, please bear with me at the moment. *grinz*

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Chocolate molten lava cake

I remembered when I first had my chocolate molten cake, it was at Morton's Steakhouse. The chef told me their molten cake was really good as they used Godiva chocolates. Well, it better be good since it cost me a bomb just for one puny piece of desserts. It tasted good not great. Worth a try.

One can't go wrong when you put a tablespoon of nutella in the chocolate batter. Sinful but yum!!

Molten chocolate lava cake is created by this great chef called Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Merci pour creating this wonderful dessert. Il ya a so many different versions de cette recette. I believe most of the recettes which you find online can be trusted.

J'aime le finished product , though je préfère un darker looking chocolat lava cake.

Je ne suis pas fan de gâteaux au chocolat fondu. Mais j'ai des amis qui les aiment. This is an easy bake. It doesn't take a long time to prepare the batter. C'est une nice savory dessert to serve votre guests. 10 mins is all you take to bake these wonderful molten lava cakes. I adapted the recipe from bell'alimento. Enjoy!

Friday, February 11, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day

Everyone I know seem to be planning something for Valentine's Day. One friend wanted to bake cookies for her beloved and asked me for the recipe. I would gladly share the recette avec elle. Good things are meant to be shared especially sweet treats.
Sugar sprinkles from Wilton

I always thought any day can be a special day with your loved ones, need not be on 14th February to demonstrate how much you care and love your special someone. I always bake brownies (B) because they are one of my favourite desserts and well-received among my friends. There are a few versions of B recipes on the internet and cookbooks. Most of the time, the bake will turn out fine. One seldom go wrong with baking B. From the first B I baked 5 years ago to now, the recipe I use now is almost different from the very first recipe I used.

I vaguely remembered I creamed my butter, used granulated sugar and baking chocolates. And my brownies weren't moist but dry in taste. Now I melt my butter (using Golden churn salted butter solely for brownies batter), used brown sugar together with granulated sugar and cocoa powder...and my brownies turn out moist and heavy. Yay!! Thanks to the wonderful food bloggers who share their tested recipes online.

Today, I tweaked my brownies recipe again. Original recipe is taken from Alton Brown:

Ingredients:

- 250 gms butter (I used lurpak unsalted butter), melted
- Half cup self-raising flour, sifted
- 11/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted
- 2 cups icing sugar/ confectionery sugar, sifted
- 2 tsps vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs

Directions


Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Butter and flour an 8-inch square pan.
In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs at medium speed until fluffy and light yellow. Add the icing sugar. Add remaining ingredients, and mix to combine.
Pour the batter into a greased and floured 8-inch square pan and bake for 45 minutes. Check for doneness with the tried-and-true toothpick method: a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan should come out clean. When it's done, remove to a rack to cool. Resist the temptation to cut into it until it's mostly cool. I used heart-shaped cookie cutter for these lovely brownies.

Enjoy! Happy Valentine's Day!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Mushrooms with couscous

Couscous. I heard of couscous but never get down to try them. My chance came when I was in St. Albans in UK in one Mexican restaurant. I ordered one lamb shank with couscous. I fell in love with them since. I vowed that I must cook some couscous when I return to Singapore.

I want to cook a simple couscous dish, so I decided to cook mushrooms with couscous. Simple and quick. I wish to introduce couscous to my family. Hope they like this healthy food which is high in fibre.
The recipe is adapted from food network. You can click here for the recipe. Enjoy!

Monday, February 7, 2011

Europe trip 2010

Since I am not baking during the Chinese New Year period, I shall post some pictures of my trip to some places in Europe. It was a little 'adventuurous' for me during some parts of my trip. One unforgetable experience was me being trapped in Copenhagen Airport for 2 days due to blizzard condition in Europe. I was supposedly due to leave Copenhagen in the evening after visiting my friend, KH living in Esbjerg over one weekend. To my horror, all flights were cancelled on the day of my departure. Used to be dependant on my bf then when there was any hipcups (if any) during our overseas trips together. But now, I am on my own. I was glad my friend in Denmark did his best to help me to deal with whatever problems I faced when I was trapped. The agent office for my airline wasn't very helpful at all, much to my disappointment. Most importantly, I returned back to London just in time for shopping, musicals and Christmas celebration with my friends.
Hotel Gare Du Nord
Loved this hotel. Very popular with tourists and very near to Gare Du Nord Terminal. I love the location and the receptionist is very friendly and speaks fluent English. I tried to speak some French but thought it's better I just simply communicate in English. Haha

Macarons seem like a favourite among many but I hadn't tried any till I arrived in Paris. I heard of Pierre Herme, like he is some great and famous pattisier/chef (pardon me if I got any of his facts wrong). So, when I chanced upon his macarons counter in Galeries Lafayette, I decided to buy some to try. Wow, these M are so good! Now, I truly understand why these puny savoury desserts are so popular among many.

Thorntons chocolates: My favourite.
After spending 3 days in Paris, I travelled to London via Eurostar to meet my friend, M. She happened to be on a business trip in London for about 2 weeks. And lucky for me, I got to stay in the same room with her in a 5* hotel in Gloucester Road. Yay!!!! And the best part is, we explored London and watched muscial together over the weekend.

London Eye
Leicester Square, London
Place where all the greatest muscials are located. I'm not in love with London but the West End musicals... Miss them terribly. :(


Chinatown, London
Bruges, Belgium
This is a place I must visit regardless how many times I visit Europe. Let me correct myself again. Be it Brussels or Bruges, it is part of my must-go places in Europe. I visited Brussels 4 years ago. 4 years later, to Bruges. I was told by my friend how beautiful Bruges is. Can't agree more. The fact is I love Belgian chocolates so much that I would bring a truckload of chocolates back if I can. Trust me, I would. 

Belgian frites with amazing special mayonaise dip... Yum
My total chocolate buys in Bruges. I love CHOCOLATES, I really do. Seeing is believing. :)
Covent Garden, London
Back in London after a day trip to Bruges. So it is back to shopping and muscials again. There are too many lovely pictures of the places I visited but I am unable to load for all to view. My apologies. But there is this one picture I love alot. As shown below:
Photo with Santa Claus in Esbjerg, Copenhagen.
 It was an unexpected photo. I was merely taking a picture of the train the Santa is driving along the pedestrian walk between the rows of shophouses in Esbjerg. Suddenly, the train stopped in front of me. Uncle Santa signalled me to go to him. And before I know it, Uncle Santa asked my friend to take a photo of us together. I was sooo delighted. I never imagine myself taken picture together with a Santa Claus. Wow, it seems like a childhood dream came true for me. Miracles do happen if you believe in them.