A marriage of art and food

KUALA LUMPUR, June 7 Putting the art in food is Sara La Fountains forte, so is healthy food. My recipes are quite simple, said the chef from Finland. Its about balance, and trying new things in order to build new flavours.

For her, half the fun in cooking is plating. I love it; its like creating a first impression. I also like to design plates too.

Sara is in two AFC shows, Perfect Day and New Scandinavian Cooking. She was in Kuala Lumpur last week to present cooking demos, a lunch and two dinners at The Royale Chulan Kuala Lumpur.

In a cooking demo for the media, she appeared in a chefs white coat teamed with a black hat, and had on her feet, kitchen shoes with colourful prints which she had designed herself. Sara has a passion for fashion as well as food, and she has a blog that combines both.

The Goat Cheese Salad with Beetroot, Dark Sweet Bread Croutons, marinated Red Onions and Blueberry-Balsamic was one of the simple recipes that Sara put together for us. As she did, she explained about the picking season in August for blueberries in Finland, how honey is used in different vinaigrettes, and goat cheese being a common ingredient. I like to eat salads as they are quite healthy. Salads celebrate summer.

Sara had brought with her the Finnish Archipelago bread, a dark rye bread which she turned into a crouton for the salad. We eat this sweet, multi-flavour bread with butter, gravlax and a nut such as pecan on top.

Then it was on to the Fried Fish with Summer Potato Vegetable Salad that had raw sugar snaps in it. We eat a lot of sugar snaps. We just peel and eat them like a healthy snack. They remind me of summer in the archipelago. Its also a very Finnish thing to have horseradish; its a little like wasabi.

Dessert was the Summer Pavlova with Passionfruit Cream served with strawberries and pistachios. There are no passionfruits in Finland. Sara had bought the fruit the night before in Jalan Alor, Kuala Lumpur where she had been taken f! or an im mersion into Malaysian street food.

Its not the first time shes been to Malaysia though. She was here in Kuala Lumpur in 2006 when she was awarded the Best First Cookbook award for a la Sara at the prestigious Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, at a dinner hosted by the prime minister in Putrajaya. It was like a movie set, and its a memory I really treasure.

Since then she has released a cookbook A Perfect Day based on the TV show, and another Passion for Food.

The pavlova is light and airy like a ballet dancer. We love to have this during summer and there are many variations of it. We serve it with whipped cream, different ice-creams and caramel sauce.

For summer too in August, the Finns have a lot of crayfish parties. We boil them in salt and eat with dill cream and we will be singing the whole night. Its a lot of fun.

Sara's father is a restaurateur, mum is a painter and her stepfather is an architect so you can see where the art in food ideas come from. She trained at The Culinary Institute of America in New York. She is also a fashion model, having represented brands like Marrimeko and Puma. She runs a catering service and a cooking school.

She runs her own blog Passion for Fashion & Food, designs dinnerware called A La Sara for a Finnish kitchenware company Luhta Home, and kitchen shoes with colourful prints for Ejendals, a Swedish company.

I have always been into my palate. At age four, I tasted oysters and loved them. I also like deepfried food. Food is like a hobby; it doesnt feel like work. She enjoys food TV as it inspires people at home. I have good memories about food and hope that people have that too. I like a stew my mum and grandma make with lamb, beef and a lot of cabbage in a demi-glace braised for four hours.

The chef also loves mushrooms. Chanterelles are just beautiful and you can pick these and other mushrooms for free in Finland. When you find a good chanterelle place, you dont tel! l anyone in Finland! Blueberries are also a must we can do jams, juice, dry them in granola, do a porridge, and make upside down cakes with them.

Winter is about heavier dishes, with lots of roasts and stews, with game meat like reindeer, venison, elk and moose. A reindeer steak is soft and lean and very light. The texture is almost like butter; theres not much fat. Its a super healthy meat.

When she is not cooking, she loves music. Im having DJ lessons at the moment. I would like to do a demo with music and cooking at the same time, like disco cooking!

Shes good at drawing and designing and has done plates, bed linen, shoes for kitchen professionals and colourful aprons. Now Im into saut pots and pans. Im thinking of doing knives. She does these with different companies but she also has her own brand a la Sara.

Finland has the purest water in the world. My new project is to bring Finnish water to the world in a stylish, trendy way. I design logos for the glacier water.

She would love to stay a couple of weeks in Malaysia, and visit the markets. She has tried durians, and loved it! I even liked the smell! I enjoyed the food I had last night salted egg prawns, clams in shrimp paste and oyster pancakes. They were excellent.

She has even tried balut in the Philippines. It was a bit weird with the feathers inside.

Sara would like to meet Jamie Oliver. I love his style of food, his recipes are easy, affordable and he has a wonderful philosophy. And she would love to cook for Lady Gaga!


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Baikohken Ramen & St Leaven Bakery @ Takashimaya Singapore

After finishing our delicious bowl of Tsuru-koshi udon at Takashimaya Food Hall, we ordered a bowl of ramen from the adjacent Baikohken. Baikohken originates from Asahikawa in Hokkaido, and has been around since 1969.

There are 3 types of soup base here to choose from, shoyu, shio and miso. They also have a special Tantanmen, hot and spicy miso flavour exclusive to this outlet. Since our favorite soup base at Hokkaido is the shio, we decided to go for the same here. However, after we returned, I googled this ramen joint, and found that their signature soup base is the shoyu (soy)- serves me right for not doing proper research before going.

Shio ramen (S$13.50 for regular)


Outlet at Takashimaya Food Hall


Menu


When I was placing my order, the lady at the counter asked, "Half portion for you?" after sizing me up. LOL. I asked for a regular and she said that it would be too big for me to finish. I told her that I was sharing with Hubby and she said, "Oh, then no problem." When it arrived, we could see why she said it would be too big for me to finish as i! t was tr uly a BIG BOWL of ramen. Maybe bigger than the large portion at Hokkaido Santouka. We also asked for the ajitama (flavoured egg) (S$1.50) which was served with the ramen.

The soup here is made from pork bones, chicken and fish dashi. It was alright, but not thick enough for me. The noodles had a nice bite but the highlight for us was definitely the thick slices of char siu. Though they look quite lean, it was very tender and very nicely marinated with bean paste. If we didn't have plans to eat elsewhere, we would have ordered extra portion of the cha siu. Another worthwhile dish to have here is the char siu don (rice) for S$6.50 since the pork is so yummy. The flavoured egg was not as runny as we would have liked it.


Shio ramen topped with spring onions and bamboo shoots


Nice noodles


Very delicious char siu - so flavoursome!



We walked aro! und Taka shimaya Food Hall after our ramen to walk it off, and saw many other delicious food items which we had to resist from buying.

Cute fish cake


Japanese layer cake

Until we walked past St Leaven Bakery and spotted the strawberry shortcake! For half the price of Canele's strawberry shortcake, it tasted just as good minus the nicer ambiance at Canele. Yeah, you need to buy these and just eat it outside the bakery since they do not have any seating for customers.



The original Four Leaves recipe(the parent company)


Large sweet strawberry on top


Vanilla sponge layered with strawberry slices... delish!




Opening times: 10am to 9.30pm daily. Last order at 9pm. (Baikohken) They have another outlet in North Canal Road.

Location: Baikohken Ramen & St Leaven Bakery, Takashimaya Food Hall, Level B2, 391A Orchard Road, Singapore, 238873.

Tel: +65 6235 3483 (Baikohken)

Nearest MRT: Orchard

Website: http://baikohken.com/menu/index.html

*All photos taken with iPhone4s.

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strawberries and cream biscuits

strawberry and cream biscuits

Did you go strawberry picking last weekend? Did you haul home too many and they are disintegrating faster than you are able to can, preserve, or pluck them individually into your mouth? Do you have strawberry-stained fingers and toddlers? Boy, do I have a treat for you.

hello, strawberries! you were missed.
drying the strawberries

Its like a strawberry shortcake, stuffed inside a single cake. No wait, its a strawberry and cream scone, with overripe strawberries that melt, their juices trickling free of their 2-by-1 confines, as they bake. Its a mistake, a terrible, terrible mistake, this stuffing of fresh, unstructured berries inside a structured baked good; it might make a red puddled mess around each, like sweet, innocent biscuits got lost on the set of a trashy vampire movie. That cant be right, can it? Shouldnt a scone be a tidier thing?

chopped

... Read the rest of strawberries and cream biscuits on smittenkitchen.com

smitten kitchen 2006-2012. |permalink to strawberries and cream biscuits | 12 comments to date | see more: Breakfast, Photo, Scones/Biscuits, Strawberries, Summer



Starbucks goes French with croissants and pastries

SEATTLE, Washington, June 6 After launching a premium juice bar this year, coffee giant Starbucks has announced that its acquired a French-style bakery brand that will have croissants, pastries, loaves and breads line store shelves in the US.

The shape of croissants to come after Starbucks gobbles up La Boulange Bakery in San Francisco. Picture courtesy of shutterstock.com
The acquisition of San Francisco-based La Boulange Bakery, announced this week, expands the chains food offerings, which includes salads, sandwiches, wraps and snack boxes, and now accounts for US$1.5 billion (RM4.8 billion) in revenues in the US.

According to a blog post by Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, the addition of fresh, French-style baked goods was made in response to consumer demand for European-style pastries, one of the most popular requests on the public forum MyStarbucksIdea.com, which invites consumers to submit ideas and suggestions.

La Boulange, founded by French baker Pascal Rigo 13 years ago, is in 19 locations across the Bay Area and creates breads, pastries and croissants from scratch, sourced with European-style butter and locally sourced products.

Last year, Starbucks acquired California-based juice company Evolution Fresh, branching out into the premium juice bar market. Earlier this spring, they also launched a new range of ready-to-drink sparkling energy drinks made with fruit juice and green coffee extract called Refreshers.

The venture speaks to a larger Starbucks strategy away from coffee-based products: the companys sustainability chef has long been sounding the alarm on dwindling coffee supplies due to climate change and, specifically, the threat to the Arabica bean.

Meanwhile, in the quest to conquer the coveted Asian market, Starbucks will go head to head with US-based chain Dunkin Donuts, which announced plans to open 100 stores in India ov! er the n ext five years. Starbucks is due to open later this year. Relaxnews


Kame Sushi @ Hartamas

The spirit of 'omakase' burns brightly and brilliantly at Kame Sushi, where customers can feast on a chef's selection that's certifiably fine and fresh.

With no menu, the man behind the counter decides what to serve; maybe someday we'll return to find this sesame-coated yam-and-crab cake once more. Comfortingly warm and soft.

Forget about Shanghai hairy crabs; these Hokkaido crabs are ridiculously good, filled with savory, ecstasy-inducing roe and sweet, easy-to-eat flesh. One of our favorite things to have tried this year.

The sashimi here is the equal of Ten's at Solaris Dutamas. Come on Tuesdays and Fridays, when everything's flown in. Thankfully, the chef skipped the salmon and presented us with tuna belly, abalone and firefly squid instead.

With sea urchin included in the sushi platter, how could we complain?

Kame Sushi is strictly non-halal, which explains this beautiful pork belly and seasoned egg. Would be spectacular to complement a bowl of ramen.

Ripe Japanese tomatoes, petite and pleasurably juicy enough to be eaten plain.

Ox tongue, more succulent than most beef. Another total triumph.

Even the grilled fish is far better than average. Extraordinarily tender and tasty.

Everything else pales in comparison, but we nevertheless enjoyed this crab fritter ...

... these bulky beans ...

... the konnyaku ...

... and crunchy salmon skin crisps.

Sensational omelet, seemingly precisely as it should be.

Ditto for the miso soup, umami-rich beyond a one-dimensional saltiness.

Meals here mostly cost upward of RM150, but they make for a fine feast.

Reservations are needed for large groups; parties of two or three must sit at the counter.

Kame Sushi,
20, Jalan 31/70A, Desa Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-2858-7739
Closed Mondays.