Favorites List (8.10.12)

A favorites list - short and sweet, for the weekend. Enjoy! xo -h

- Reading this, Watching this.

- This soup. (via Bonni)

- Off the Deep End: Balloons

- Bea Feitler

- Bircher Muesli with Spiced Strawberry Sauce

- Dream Listing: Boutique hotel, Buenos Aires

- Or, how about Belize: 4 Suites & 5 Cabanas

- Wind Map

- This honey

- Colors of Confinement (via wb)

- Cover Junkie

- Smashed Cherry & Whisky Cooler

- Jen Altman: Favorite Cookbooks

- Why Burn Doctors Hate Instant Soup

- Charles Phan

- Phyllis Galembo

- Lemony French Yo! gurt Cak e

Lead photo: Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

Continue reading Favorites List (8.10.12)...

I baked: Vanilla cupcakes with salted egg yolk-custard frosting

Cupcake frosting experiments led me to salted egg yolk next. Since we love salted egg yolk custard pau (steamed buns), I thought that this might work on a cupcake too.Turns out I was right, as the subtle saltiness of the yolk went well with the sweet cupcakes.

For this recipe, you're only using the egg yolks, hence you can use the salted duck egg whites to stir fry a bittergourd dish. It's very delicious and best of all, no wastage!

I'm loving all the different sort of frostings I can put on my cupcakes.. any weird but delicious suggestions you can think of?

Vanilla cupcakes with salted egg yolk-custard frosting

Yum, says Baby D

Vanilla cupcakes with salted duck egg yolk and custard frosting
Preparation time: 20-30 minutes
Cooking time: 20-25 minutes
Makes 8

For the vanilla cupcakes
110g butter
110g caster sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla ex! tract
110g self raising flour, sifted
1-2 tbsp milk


For the frosting
3 salted duck egg yolk, steamed for 7-8 minutes then mashed white hot
10g butter, softened at room temperature
100ml milk
10g custard powder
15g caster sugar
1/2 tsp cornstarch


1. Preheat oven to 190C. Line 8 muffin cup tray with paper liners.

2. Beat the butter and sugar using an electric whisk for 2 minutes on medium speed until light and fluffy.

3. Add the eggs, one at a time to the butter mixture and beat until smooth.

4. Add in the vanilla essence or extract and mix.Next, add in the flour and beat until incorporated. Finally, add in the milk, 1 tbsp at a time for a smooth mixture.

5. Fill each paper cup until 2/3 full and bake for 20-25 minutes until risen and springy to the touch, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

6. Remove from the oven and leave on a wire rack to cool.

10. To make the frosting, first separate the salted duck egg yolks from the white and then steam for 7-8 minutes. Mash while the yolks are hot with the butter.

11. In a saucepan, mix the custard powder, milk, sugar and cornstarch until dissolved. Place the pan over medium low heat and bring mixture to boil, stirring continously until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat and then mix to the salted egg yolk. Put mixture in fridge to firm up.

12. Using a piping bag with a star tip, swirl the frosting on the cupcakes. (I found this a little more difficult to pipe compared to the peanut butter frosting I made the last time since there were lumpy bits - just try to mash the egg yolk as best as you can). Decor! ate with some white edible pearls.

13. These cupcakes are best eaten on the day they are made since putting in the fridge may create lumps in the frosting.

Lulus Chocolate Tartlets

Making Chocolate Ganache

Today Lulu baked chocolate tartlets.

Cest pour qui ? (Who is it for?) I asked. She was kneeling on a wooden stool that my sister-in-law and I had pulled for her next to the outdoor kitchen counter top. Lulu was carefully making the rolling pin move forward and backward, curious to watch how the pastry thinned slowly. Her hands and nose and tummy were covered with flour. She looked very happy in the middle of all of it.

Pour tout le monde ! (For every one!) she exclaimed while describing a circle in the air with her hand.

She looked proud.

I was extremely proud of her.

Of the care she was putting in it.

And of her delicious chocolate tartlets.

That evening, as my family gathered to eat, we shared Lulus chocolate tartlets and my sister-in-laws plum tartlets.

One of the most delicious and simple desserts, in my opinion, to seal a summer dinner.

This is an excellent recipe to try with your little ones. Lulu is only three and a half and she did very well with it.

Lulus Chocolate Tartlet Recipe

For six 4-inch tartlets

You need:

Rustic pastry crust of your choice (I will share my recipe later, but in a nutshell, use preferably whole flours)

For the chocolate ganache:

• 7 ounces (200 g) dark chocolate (70 % cocoa contents minimum), broken in small pieces
• 3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon (20 cl) heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons (40 g) unsalted butter, diced

Steps:

< ul>

Preheat the oven to 420 F.

Roll the pastry and garnish six 4-inch tartlet molds. Make small holes at the bottom of each and prebake the tartlets for 15 minutes, or until golden in color. Remove and let cool.

To make the ganache, place the chocolate in a bowl. Heat the heavy cream and when it starts to boil, pour over the chocolate while stirring.

Add the butter while continuing to stir.

Garnish the tartlets with the chocolate and use a spatula to even the surface, and a fork to make a decoration on top (Lulu didnt want anything else on her tartlets).

Place in the fridge for a few hours, or until the chocolate is hard. Serve at room temperature.

Bulgogi Brothers @ Paradigm Mall

Modern makeovers of Korean restaurants are all the rage in the Klang Valley. First, we had Namoo on the Park make its mark recently at Publika. Now, Bulgogi Brothers is seeking to make waves at Paradigm Mall and Pavilion.

Complimentary starters: steamed corn, sugar snap peas and sweet potatoes. The Brotherschain in South Korea and the Philippines substitutes the peas with quail eggs; let's hope this pioneering Malaysian branch follows suit eventually.

Also complimentary at this K-Pop-loving eatery: ultra-creamy pumpkin soup, naturally sweet.

Lovingly crafted heart-shaped beef bulgogi (RM45.90++) is Bulgogi Brothers' pride.There's an experienced touch here; this franchise was brought to Malaysia by Chaswood Resources, which runsThe Apartment,Malones,Laundry,Baci,Bedroom,Watamiand more.

Grilled to an aching tenderness.Bulgogi Brothers opened this weekend at Paradigm, with the Pavilion follow-up to launch by the first week of September. Expect further outlets at e@Curve and Mid Valley too eventually.

Can't take beef? No prob, there's a chicken equivalent too (RM29.90++), featuring thigh meat marinated for six hours in BB's secret sauce.

Don't dump the dumplings: the seafood-stuffed ones here, served with mussels, shrimp and squid (RM33.90++), make our must-eat sense tingle. Like a cross between keropok lekor and karipap.

Traditional soybean stew with crab,! prawn a nd veggies (RM26.90++). Also well worth slurping up, thanks to a spicy richness that combines the flavors of both land and sea.

Something special: Sweet plum golden-hued wine (RM66++).

Bonus Paradigm stop: returning to Cielo Dolci to check out the current flavors whipped up by gelato-making maestro Ong Kee Win.
Earlier entry on Cielo Dolci:June 3, 2012.

This weekend's wacky gelato and sorbet varieties encompass Cameron Highlands strawberry, banana parsley (!!!), barley lime, lavender-infused Belgian chocolate and peanut butter. Visitors to Paradigm, head to Cielo Dolci for the most satisfying finish possible to a shopping spree.

Bulgogi Brothers,

Ground Floor Boulevard, Paradigm Mall.
Cielo Dolci,
Lower Ground, Paradigm Mall.

Seeri Authentic Thai Restaurant @ SS2

My wife likes to come here, she enjoys the food here very much and here we were for a re-visit for a good and authentic Thai cuisine. Sawadi krap....Steamed Siakap was delicious always hot with burning charcoal beneath and 2 portions please we got 15 of us.Thai Pandan leaves fried chicken was aromatically delicious.Hot plate Tofu with minced meat nothing special just an ordinary palatable dish.Stir fried Kai Lan Veggie with roasted pork was another good choice.The fried chicken wasperfectlyfried very crispy on the skin with juicy bites. I like it very much.Tom Yam Seafood spicy and tangy but lovely.Fried squids with crispy coat and succulent fresh.Another great appetizer,(Yam Voon Send)Seafood Kerabu with glass noodle fresh and inviting.My son Zuyi's no.1 favourite, creamy Green Chicken Curry. He wants to learn how to cook this.I am sure this dessert could be done better but because of the weekend crowd things were! not don e as they should be hence quality of such secondary dishes was questionable. .

15 of us enjoyed the food, the food was spendid, except for the air conditioning which was not effective and service was bad too. Too many tasks with too few workers (I pity the staff). That's what is likely to happened if you eat out during a weekend. If we were to come during week days I am sure we would enjoy meal better.

Seeri Authentic Thai Restaurant

No. 26, Jalan SS2/10,

Petaling Jaya, Selangor

Malaysia

Tel:+6 03 7877 7659/+6 012 378 9618

GPS :3.115716,101.616909

1000 Food Styling Ideas Book Project: Call for Entries

I cannot help it: Beautiful Food Pictures touch me in a special way. The colors, composition, tones, angle, and light chosen. Each picture tells a story. Each one is about a special moment around food.

So excited, I was, when Rockport Publishers approached me to talk about one of their book projects.

They asked whether Id like to work on 1000 Food Styling Ideas. They asked whether Id like to select 1000 of your most beautiful food pictures so that we make a book with them inside it. A book filled with pretty food photographs, one that I imagine can become a lovely coffee table book to keep.

Are you interested in having one, two, or many more, of your pictures featured? Id love to think so.

The information on what to do can be found below (such as how to upload your high resolution files to a FTP server). The deadline to submit your food photographs is September 15 th, 2012. I very much look forward to seeing what you have in hand!

And in case you wondered, I am not receiving any royalties on this book. I am just commissioned to select the entries.