Warm Apple Crumble

Apple chunks tossed with some brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour, baked with a brown sugar crumb topping. Delicious with Haagen Dazs ice cream (the best vanilla ice cream ever!).

Bubur Cha Cha

Bubur Cha Cha is a popular Malaysian dessert soup mostly consisting of sweet potato in a coconut milk base. It's great served hot or cold though I prefer it hot, especially with the kind of weather we're having right now in Vancouver.

This would be my first attempt at a Asian dessert and I was happy having it not be a total failure. I cooked the sweet potato and purple yam in the microwave ( a steamer would be better if you have one), and then boiled the taro root. I got a package of mixed beans and soaked those and cooked them separately as well and cooked some large tapioca pearls. Mixed them together with the coconut milk, syrup, and some coconut cream and it was done. Very happy with the result:)

Macarons....Again

366 macarons baked for a school fundraiser. Dulce de Leche, Raspberry, and Chocolate. These batches came out better than ever in that they had the correct feet and didn't have the hollow shell that sometimes happens. I think I wasn't mixing the batter enough before so the feet weren't as high.

Also, thank god for air conditioning or else I would have spent so much time waiting for the shells to dry.

Mocha Hazelnut

Almond dacquoise sandwiching coffee buttercream and topped off with chocolate sponge, mousse, and hazelnut nougatine. I later dusted the lettering with gold lustre dust to create more of a contrast.

More Macarons

I've been on a bit of a macaron binge lately. Here's pistachio on the left and coffee on the right. I've got a big order coming up too so I'll be up to my ears in macarons!

Crispy Skin Salmon

Salmon cooked with the skin side down till crispy, sitting on brown rice and sauteed spinach, garnished with cooked and raw radishes.

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: