Chocolate Dipped Candied Ginger

So this was my attempt at candying my own ginger at home....in 3 days. Normally this would take at least a week, and with the help of a syrup density meter as well. Seeing as I had neither the time nor the tool for it, I was very skeptical that this would turn out. My hopes dropped a little more when there was no young ginger available at the store.

I tried anyways and it actually turned out better than I thought it would. The ginger on its own is quite spicy, but dipped in chocolate, it was great! So now I have about 3 dozen pieces of chocolate dipped ginger and some awesome ginger syrup for use later on. I will say a few things though, next time I do this, I'll use young ginger so it is less fibrous, and I'll candy a whole lot more ginger. No point in spending all the time and effort (and about 2 kg sugar) with just 3 dozen.

Cravings

I don't know why but lately, I've been a bit of a sweet tooth. A little cheesecake here, some macaron leftovers there. This morning, I made some brownies which I haven't made since my product developing days. I threw in some toasted hazelnuts I had lying around just for some texture and had a great time snacking on the trimmings. For dessert tonight, some homemade coffee ice cream topped it off.

Hors D'oeuvres Part 2

Another housewarming, another set of appys.

Cheese puff swirls:




Beet and Corn salad on pumpernickel bread:



Salmon tartar on endive with pea shoot:
Roasted Lamb racks with a rosemary panko crust:

Polenta cakes with sausage and roasted pepper along with roasted mushroom on bacon and sunchoke puree:

Prawns with pesto sauce:

Caramelized onion with roasted tomato and basil:

Beef carpaccion with parmesan:

Hors D'oeuvres

Three months after the actual move, I've finally had an official housewarming. Now I'm sure most people are wondering why it took so long. Well there's the initial "settling in", scheduling conflicts, and then I got to thinking, "Ok, if I don't get this thing planned out and organized, it'll never happen".

So this past weekend, I got to cooking away and here's what I served:


Kataifi wrapped bay scallops with a pineapple salsa:



Crab and avocado salad on Pan-fried rice cakes:

Roasted mushroom with parsnip puree on a puff disc:



Salmon Tartar with orange creme fraiche on crostini:

Crab, mango, and tomato salad on endive spears:


Fruit platter:

Salmon and green onion sandwiches:

Smoked Salmon and cream cheese on buckwheat blini:


Raspberry Chocolate Ganache Macarons:

Ginger Chocolate Madeleines:

60's Themed Cake

This cake was made for a few people who shared the same birthday. They were all involved in the Theatre Under the Stars' production of Joseph and the amazing Dreamcoat. Their version of the play is centered around the 60's so this cake had the usual hippie flowers, some lava lamps, nice bright colours, and my favourite, the Warhol Campbell's soup can.

I'm not typically too fond of using buttercream to finish a large cake because it usually isn't too fond of me in terms of getting the neat sides and corners but the client didn't want fondant to cover. This worked out well though. I made the decorations with royal icing and just placed them on the cake after it was iced. The interior is a hazelnut sponge cake with chocolate buttercream.