I attended an anticipated mass  last night at Our Lady of Light Parish at the town proper. Sometimes, you just miss the noise of everyday living in a town where food chains like McDonald’s and Jollibee go hand in hand with selling goods in karitons (cart). You’ll see them in every corner near the church – fruit vendors, balut vendors, small stores selling pork barbecue or inihaw na bangus and yes,  vendors selling cartload of fruits in season.

So what could you buy with your P100.00 pesos? That’s the only money  I had in my coin purse and a few loose  change for tricycle fare in going home. I forgot to bring some money except my offering for a mass for our dead relatives and a folded P100.00.  When you are sorely tempted to buy something to munch on after dinner, either it’s an order of  fried peanuts or cornik  but of course with all that oil sticking to your fingers, they’re not just healthy. I saw a vendor selling lanzones  for P70.00 a kilo. I have to haggle with him and he gave me a discount of P10.00 and a half-kilo of  dalandan was selling at P20.00. So make that P20.00 left out of the P100.00 peso bill. What could you buy with that anyway?  I found this, a little stand in a corner selling puto bungbong  or   puto bumbong for some.

I haven’t tasted this for quite sometime. It’s a native delicacy that is usually seen and sold at Christmas time. I have to wait for at least five minutes for it to cook. Four thin bumbong tubes of this glutinous rice costs P18.00 Topped with a spread of margarine, freshly  grated coconut and a teaspoon of sugar….it’s just perfect!  Don’t ask me how it’s done, I’d rather just buy and eat it pronto while it’s hot.  I found this site that shows how puto bumbong is prepared.

Whoa, I still have P2.00 left in my pocket.

Yesterday, I did another experiment in the kitchen. Instead of cooking pancakes the traditional way, I baked it instead. Using a small pack of  Maya hot cake mix, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder,1 egg, 1/3 cup of sugar  and more than a half cup of raisins, I came up with this, a yummy cinnamon raisin loaf.

Even my son did a  thumbs up  when he took a bite. Just perfect for that hot cup of green tea.

After reading the newspaper, she approached me with a request to concoct this heart tonic for her and my grandmother. And since I’ve done the labor, why not share it for those who are up for an all-natural remedy.

Mise en place: Ginger, garlic, lemons, apple cider vinegar, and honey.

Tools-wise, you will need a juicer, a saucepan that can accommodate 4 cups of liquid, a whisk, and a measuring cup.

For the ingredients, you will need lots of ginger and garlic, about 4-5 lemons, some apple cider vinegar (preferably Bragg because it’s organic), and some honey.

Juicer magic

1. Peel the ginger and cut into small slices. Juice until you have 1 cup.
2. Peel the garlic and remove the the stems. (If you have sensitive hands, wear gloves. I find that handling garlic for a prolonged period will cause your fingers to start to sting.) Again, juice until you get 1 cup.
3. Squeeze out the lemons to achieve 1 cup.
4. Mix all of those in your saucepan with 1 cup of apple cider vinegar. Bring the mixture to a boil and let it reduce to three-quarters, whisking occasionally to avoid any burnt parts. Let it cool.
5. Mix in 3 cups of honey and store in a container.

The instruction was to drink 1 tbs daily before breakfast to unblock the heart.

Turns greenish while cooking

Tips:

Don’t know if it’s perhaps because my juicer is inefficient, but I find that you can re-juice the garlic and ginger pulp to produce quite a bit more liquid. In fact, I got to re-juice the pulp about 3 times until the juices were sufficiently extracted.

I zested the lemons and boiled the peels in hot water for a tasty lemon tea. I’d hate for that to go to waste.

Haven’t blog in awhile or at least, I haven’t been uploading photos for awhile because I had been really lazy (or busy. That time of the year has arrived again. I’m so unbelievably tired and worn out by FYP because I had been waking up at 7am daily and final year exams are coming *scream in horror.* Everyday I’m dragging my feet around like a zombie.

So last saturday we celebrated Kent’s granny’s 81st birthday and we ordered antoinette’s Le Royale cake. It was heavenly! No doubt this is our all time favorite cake and we were glad everyone liked it too. We got some small cakes for everyone to try too. Kent’s grandma/aunt/dad/mum are all awesome cook and we had so much to eat that night it was insaneeeee but it’s always a good time having everyone gathered together in games and laughter. So glad that my life is filled with so many awesome cook, my momsie esp! and my auntie!

But i insist that i’m not that shabby either! Made myself pumpkin and scallop congee last week when I decided to stay home and it was yummy! Roasted the remaining pumpkin to top the congee. Can’t wait to cook it again, Mom stocked the fridge with pumpkin again after I cooked this.

So, I had been trying to mug recently (although i’ve failed miserably in doing so) and my new studying spot is Da paolo gastronomia at Chip Bee garden and the reason is obvious, (comfort) food is easily at reach. I love their tiramisu as well as their lasagna, tried their panini and their grilled vegetable panini is pretty awesome!

Have you been to simply bread at Guthrie house? If you haven’t, please do! Their sticky bun is simply one of the best cinnamon roll in Singapore. Made with wholemeal flour, there’s less guilt? Had brunch with momsie and sister there last week and it reminded me of my JC days where Joanna, Nat and I used to have breakfast together, miss these girls so much. The french toast that we had was fantastic too. It was so well executed. I think you can tell just from looking at the photo!

I simple layout and design of this little cafe/bakery at the corner of guthrie house (beside coffee bean) appeals to me. Simply delicious and simply good company!

Also, last Sunday, kent and I had a late lunch at District 10 at Star Vista.

The buffalo wings were good, the pizza was tasty but the mushroom soup was a disappointment. It was still a good late lunch with the partner after a morning of chores.

We also finally visited Chili’s sometime last week/this week (I can’t remember) and i tried quesadilla for the first time. I like it! The portion was humongous but I think I ate a good 5 pieces of it and Kent’s burger was insane. It’s huge. We finished it, yes we are monster. We ordered cheese fries too but those weren’t worth our money. We ordered fruit juice too cos it’s bottomless fruit juice (refillable)!

I’m craving for a Kazu’s Foie Gras skewer while typing this post. Urgh..

This used to be a roller coaster at the Jersey Shore

When Hurricane Sandy hit, we were just about the bulls eye  We’re about an hour inland, and the ground is high where I am and we were lucky – very lucky compared to many other people.

But we’ve had no  power since Sunday, and have been told that it could be out until Monday.

While I don’t have a generator (note to self: buy one!), I do have an inverter – a gizmo that attaches to your car battery and, through a series of electrical cords running through the house, allows for the charging of devices, keep my sump pump running, and brew the occasional pot of coffee to keep me warm as the house is about 60 degrees a I write this. I *do* have to avoid draining my battery, however. Heat, warm showers, and teevee are out of the question, however.

Its Halloween as I write this, and I read that our endlessly amusing Governor, Chris Christie, has stated he might sign an executive order postponing Halloween. While I might disagree with him on many things, I *like* him – he’s quintessentially ’New Jersey’.

All this is definitely putting a bit of a kink in low carbing, however. I’ve been somewhat, um, distracted in the days leading up to the storm since they (correctly) stated that this would be ‘the big one’ and shopping for the Apocalypse is always difficult – what do you buy for the unknown?

I have plenty of canned tuna and sardines as well as kippers. I can keep the low carb faith with those, but first, as it seems it will be a while before the power comes back on, my wife and I will need to inventory the fridge and eat the stuff in there that is going to get thrown away before we hit the cans.

I did pick up some Spam – and noticed that Spam is apparently on a lot of people’s minds during such times. Do these people normally eat Spam, or is it just ‘Spam is something you buy  for hurricanes’? Will food drives in the coming year be filled with Spam discards?

I can also report to the Hormel company that your Hickory Smoked and Turkey varieties are NOT considered hurricane-worthy, as when I stopped by one store the entire Spam shelf was empty except for a few of the smaller mini cans, the ‘singles’ wrapped in plastic, and the aforementioned hickory and turkey.

Given meal planning is a bit off, and I really haven’t had the luxury of focus, the eating details have been murky, to say the least. I can report no major carb blowouts, though I did have some strawberry shortcake and a bit of fried rice. I am most likely not in ketosis anymore – and I haven’t weighed myself in days as it has been too cold to strip to my skivvies and get on the scale since Monday afternoon when I was about 198.

The kids are funny. Their endless whining about being ‘bored’ and their complaining about the almost caveman-like necessity to use the stovetop to warm food(!) makes me trot out the timeless parent spiel  “When I was your age, I would have to shoo the dinosaurs away from the stove and pull out a pot made from a hollowed out rock, and warm the food that way. And the stove top didn’t go ‘ding’ when it was ready – I had to actually be there, watching it.”

Once the initial electronics withdrawal kicked in, the kids actually reverted to a more primitive kiddom. The smaller one played with her dolls. The larger one actually spent time teaching subtraction to the smaller one.

Will this last once Nickelodeon comes back on? I doubt it.

I do have a low carb recipe that works well in these circumstances – here it is:

Hurricane Sandy Avocado and Yogurt Chili

Ingredients:

• 1 avocado
• 1 7oz cup of greek yogurt that needs to be eaten before it gets thrown away
• 1/2 cup of leftover low carb chili before it gets thrown away or use salsa.

Mix cold and eat. Not bad for post-hurricane food.

Another baking post! Is this turning into a baking blog? No. I’m just on a baking obsession right now.

Last week, I met up with two of my close friends for a baking exchange! Or as one termed it – a “domestic goddesses meetup”. Each of us were supposed to bake one dish. There were chocolate brownies, Nutella cheesecake, and my contribution – Apple & Blueberry Crumble.

I chose to make a crumble because I had to find a quick and simple recipe to bake on Sunday night. I also needed to bake something that could be served cold, as I was bringing it from home in the morning to work, and then to our meetup over dinner. Plus, after my last encounter with Apple Pie, I wanted to explore more ways of baking with apples.

There are many many Apple Crumble recipes on the Internet. I used this one , from Butter. At the same time I must say that I’m in love with her blog. So many yummy looking baked confections! I really want to make these Easy Nutella Brownie Oreo Cupcakes next (but without the frosting).

Based on my limited experiece with baking, I personally find crumbles to be the easiest. All you need to do is cook/ stew the fruit, make some crumbly, buttery, floury topping to sprinkle on top, and put it in the oven! I’ve even seen Apple Crumble recipes that don’t require you to cook the apples at all, like this recipe from BBC Food. What crumble shall I make next, I wonder..

**

Whilst writing this blog post, the phrase ”domestic goddess” gets me thinking about Nigella Lawson, and how I’ve never gotten round to reading her cookbooks before. I think I’ll start with her epitome title – How To Be A Domestic Goddess first.

She has been a loyal fan of my cakes and I wanted to make something special and different for her.

And since she doesn’t like her cake too sweet, anything fondant-coated is out of the question.

After much consideration, I decided to go with a green-based cheese cake for her as her favorite colour is green and she loves cheese!

Simple pandan cheesecake for Grandma!

I didn’t want to use any colouring for the cake so I tinged it naturally with some blended pandan leaves and it turned out great!

Besides adding a nice natural light green tone to it, the Pandan leaves added a nice fragrance and blended well with the cheese cake!

I topped it off with a cute figurine of my grandma donning clothes in her favourite colour, together with the pair of her favourite pet bunnies and a longevity peach to wish her a long fulfilling life.

Little Fondant figurine of Grandma!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

I have a love hate relationship with Groupon. On the one hand, it’s awesome because I find deals for the most interesting things I otherwise wouldn’t think I needed. But well, this same point can lead to impulsive spending. Recently I spotted a mini cupcake maker in my daily Groupon emails.

Who doesn’t love cupcakes?  I have long lusted over gorgeously photographed cupcakes in blogs and cookbooks but never managed to bake satisfactory ones. Coincidentally, this Groupon deal arrived just days after I discovered the wonders of Babycakes  products. They have whoopie pie makers! And cake pop makers! In such pretty pastel colors of lavender, canary yellow and pink! *swoon*

So after 30 minutes of deliberation, the Mini Cupcake Maker was mine.

It became clear to me after I examined the box and instruction manuals, that this is a no-brand product. There is no indication of where the cupcake maker was made, no distributor / company name, and the instruction manual makes reference to “attached” recipes (but there are none). I had already predicted this, given the cupcake maker’s low price tag ($28). Given the fact that there are various brands of cupcake makers out there, and because they all seem to look alike, I guess it does not matter after all if my Groupon cupcake maker seems so generic and brand-less. Could it possibly be factory overrun?

So I googled and found instruction manuals for other cupcake makers, that DID include recipes for tiny cupcakes.

Cupcake Maker Recipes (PDFs)

- Babycakes Cupcake Maker
- Smart Planet Home Cupcake Maker
- Pattie Cupcake Maker by Sunbeam
- Lakeland Cupcake Maker
- Swan Cupcake Maker
- Kambrook Little Chefs Cupcake Maker

For the test run, I made banana, oats and peanut butter cupcakes. The recipe is inspired from the Banana and Coconut Cupcake recipe from the Kambrook Little Chefs Cupcake Maker manual but I made some tweakings because I did not have desiccated coconut on hand. I also figured out that the cupcakes need to be in my Groupon machine longer than specified in the original Kambrook recipe. Hence I changed the timing from 7 minutes to 12 minutes. The result is a spongy cupcake that resembles a steamed cake rather than any cupcake I’ve tried. I also like the small portion size, which makes it seem a lot healthier.

But the whole experience taught me a few things. First, pudding is super basic yet totally elegant when presented right. Second, pudding is kid-friendly and not too bad for you in terms of desserts so it’s a good addition to the mom-repertoire. Third, it’s probably not necessary to ever triple a pudding recipe.

My love of pudding re-established I have been making it regularly. However I ran into a major snafu this last month. Travis and I have been working on becoming a GMO-free household. And yep, you guessed it, no more cornstarch.* Arrowroot powder is a common replacement for cornstarch, but the batch I tried to make a few weeks ago yielded what could only be called condensed and sweetened almond milk. So I set out to really tackle this problem (I had hoped to also make a pudding thickened with tapioca for comparison but I ran out of time, ah well).

Celebrating pudding’s utter simplicity, I made the most basic pudding I could think of: 2 T of thickener in a stainless steel bowl over a pot of boiling water (also called a double boiler for those with a more tricked out kitchen than mine) with 1.5 c cold milk slowly added. Scrape with a spatula and stir regularly for 10 minutes, then begin to scrape and stir continuously for another 5 minutes. Add 1/2 tsp vanilla, 3 T maple syrup, and a dash of salt, then continue to scrape and stir until the mixture is thickened. This took another 5 minutes with the cornstarch and another 10 minutes with the arrowroot powder. Pour into a custard cup or dish and refrigerate until serving (note: this size recipe will make one large serving or two small ones).

And the verdict? The pudding with arrowroot powder was the popular favorite, although there was one vote for the cornstarch-thickened pudding and no one declared the cornstarch pudding inedible or unpleasant. The arrowroot pudding was declared the winner for its smoother texture and its mellower flavor. The holdout for the cornstarch pudding preferred its tangy taste but agreed that the texture of the arrowroot pudding was better.

So given my research pre- and post-cooking, here are my recommendations:

• if you’re sweetening with syrup, use arrowroot powder to thicken. Cornstarch tends to c lump – one of the ways to prevent this is to mix it with granulated sugar before adding the milk which is not an option here;
• if you’re committed to using both cornstarch and maple syrup, make a slurry with cornstarch and a little bit of water adding milk
• be sure to add cold milk to the arrowroot powder – it will clump if the milk is hot;
• if you are making a pudding with a delicate or mild taste, use arrowroot powder – cornstarch takes on odors during the wet milling process and its traces of lipids oxidize so that it also develops a relatively strong taste of its own, whereas arrowroot powder is tasteless (Harold McGee, On Food and Cooking, pp614-616);
• in my experience, pudding is easy to undercook and hard to overcook – when in doubt, leave it on a few more minutes. It should thickly coat the spoon, or when you stir it should no longer leave trails along the side of the bowl. Forgive me for stating the obvious, but it will be done when it is simply behaving like a pudding. Of course, appearances can be deceiving – I cooked both puddings to the same stage but the cornstarch one turned out to be a little more watery. Just use arrowroot powder. There, I said it.

Go forward and make pudding!

—————————————————————————————
*A friend reading a previous post asked why it was that I almost never use confectioner’s sugar. Well, first off, “almost never” has just turned into “never”. And second off, confectioner’s sugar is granulated sugar and cornstarch. For some time I’ve been avoiding unnecessary foods with a highly processed corn component such as cornstarch, corn syrup, or high fructose corn syrup – pudding was one of the few cornstarch exceptions after I realized that it’s rather necessary. But overall I’ve stayed away from processed foods (read, foods that can be heated up and eaten, or already made cereals, cookies, etc.) for some years now, in part because I just like to cook so much, in part because I became addicted to shopping at farmers’ markets and using fresh produce, and in part because of books such as Nourishing Traditions that outline the health hazards hidden in processed foods. But after reading Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma I cut out most items containing processed corn. The following passage is worth quoting at length:

“First we separate the corn into its botancial parts – embryo, endosperm, fiber – and then into its chemical parts,” Johnson explained as we began our tour of the plant. When a shipment of corn arrives at the mill, it is steeped for thirty-six hours in a bath of water containing a small amount of sulphur dioxide. The acid bath swells the kernels and frees the starch from the proteins that surround it.

After the soak, the swollen kernels are ground in a mill. “By now the germ is rubbery and it pops right off,” Johnson explained. “We take the slurry to a hydroclone” – basically a centrifuge for liquids – “where the germ floats off. After it’s dried, we squeeze it for corn oil.”…

Once the germ has been removed and the kernels crushed, what’s left is a white mush of protein and starch called “mill starch.” To draw off as much of the protein and starch as possible, the mill starch undergoes a progressively finer series of grindings and filterings and centrifuges. The extracted protein, called gluten, is used in animal feed. At each step more fresh water is added – it takes about five gallons to process a bushel of corn, and prodigious amounts of energy. Wet milling is an energy-intensive way to make food; for every calorie of processed food it produces, another ten calories of fossil fuel energy are burned.
At this point, the process has yielded a white slurry that’s poured out onto a stainless steel table and dried to a fine, superwhite powder – cornstarch. Cornstarch comprised wet milling’s sole product when the industry got its start in the 1840s. At first the laundry business was its biggest customer, but cooks and early food processors soon began adding cornstarch to as many recipes as they could: it offered the glamour of modernity, purity, and absolute whiteness. By 1866, corn refiners had learned how to use acids to break down cornstarch into glucose, and sweeteners quickly became – as they remain today – the industry’s most important product. Corn syrup (which is mostly glucose or dextrose – the terms are interchangeable) became the first cheap domestic substitute for cane sugar. (p87-88)

Gross. And sort of awe-inspiring in a science fiction kind of way. What we manage to do to a single plant amazes me. Our science is so advanced that we can pretty much turn food into a relation of plastic. Alright, that’s an exaggeration. But we certainly turn a tasty food (who doesn’t love summer corn-on-the-cob?) into some barely food-like components.

So there it is. That’s why I almost never have confectioner’s sugar or cornstarch in my kitchen. I’ll save the detailed explanation of why the “almost never” is transitioning to “never” until after election day. California Proposition 37, I’ve got my eye on you….

The blog post discussed a “seamless” ravioli.  Instead of enveloping a filling in fresh pasta, it suggested submerging you filling in durum flour for several days, creating a covering of starch which would gelatinize when boiled, creating a seamless effect.  My food geek curiosity was piqued, so I gave it a shot.

Tis the season, so I did mine with pumpkin, and its traditional spices.  My experiment was successful, my raviolis seamless.  It was a food geek triumph.

Mise en Place

Equipment

• food processor
• mesh strainer set over bowl
• plastic wrap
• baking dish
• colander
• large bowl
• pasta pot
• large skillet

Ingredients

• 1 small sugar pumpkin
• 1 lb ricotta
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp dried ginger
• 1/8 tsp allspice
• 2 tbs maple syrup
• 4 tbs unsalted butter
• 2 tbs sage leaves, chopped if large
• 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

1) Roast the pumpkin.  Poke a few holes in a pumpkin.  Bake in a 400 degree oven for about an hour, or until softened.  Remove the flesh, discarding the skin and seeds.

2) Puree the pumpkin.  In a food processor puree the pumpkin, adding the ricotta.  Place in the strainer set over a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to drain overnight.

3) Season the filling.  Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, and maple syrup to the pumpkin and ricotta mixture.  Stir to incorporate.  Season with salt.

4) Form the ravioli, and submerge in flour.  Pour a 1/2 inch layer of flour into the bottom of the baking dish.  Form balls, about 2 tbs in size, with your hands and nestle in the flour.  Leave about a 1/2 inch in between each piece of pumpkin mixture.  When the dish is full, completely cover the pumpkin with durum flour.  If there is filling left over repeat the process, forming a second layer.  Place the baking dish in the refrigerator for several days.

5)  Sift the ravioli, as you bring a pot of well-salted water to a bowl.  Carefully spoon the ravioli out of the durum into a colander set over a bowel.  Shake the colander over the bowl, removing any excess flour from the ravioli.  Reserve the sifted flour for another use.

6) Brown the butter.  In a large stainless steel skillet over medium heat, melt the butter.  When the milk solids turn brown, and take on a nutty aroma, remove from the heat.

7) Boil the ravioli, and pan finish.  Boil the ravioli for about 30 seconds before transferring to the skillet with a ladleful of pasta.  Raise the heat to high until the liquid begins to bubble.  Toss the contents of the skillet several times to emulsify the butter and pasta water.  Take off the heat and add the sage and cheese, tossing several more times.  Transfer to serving dishes and garnish with additional Parmigiano-Reggiano.

It’s been a while since something I’ve cooked has gone so wrong – which is surprising in itself actually after such incidents including the accidental explosion of 2008 and the slow cooker bomb in 2011, but this is the situation I was in about half an hour ago.

I had run out of pasta form the night before. The only sole ingredient for a dinner left in my cupboards was an unopened 4kg bag of rice. The month long habit of eating pasta was over and I finally decided that I should give the cooking experience with a rice steamer a go for the first time.

In went the rice, followed by the water. Up popped the website tutorial too which guided me through to my fate. It was while the rice was cooking that by automatic reflex, I reached for the tin of tuna and opened it.

I had been eating pasta and tuna all week, with cuttings of cheese over the top. Without thinking, the cooked rice came out, the tuna went in and stirred it was. A whole bag of cheddar cheese was added to the mix before I realised that this probably wouldn’t taste the way I imagined it should.

And believe me, it was disgusting.

So if anybody would like to purchase a bowl of wallpaper paste, let me know!

Honestly… I can’t scrape it out of the bowl…

Oh, and as a replacement for this pathetic excuse for a meal, there’s a pizza in the microwave.

So drop biscuits, I followed the recipe to through except for one ingredient. Instead of using buttermilk, I used Coconut Milk. I’ve gone 13 days without drinking dairy and I’m safe so far. I had to cave in with the milk though. I just needed it even though I only drink half a glass every other day.

The Onion Soup was sort of a different story. I’ve read how other people cook it and basically I just grabbed some basic stuff. This dish was on of the reasons why I made the biscuits cause I couldn’t have bread… not really. ANYWAY. I chopped two large onions lengthwise. Heated a pot in medium high heat to melt 1/4 of a cup of butter. I stirred a bit then turned the heat down to medium, covered the pot and let it cook for another 5 minutes before stirring it up again. I did this for about 15 minutes then threw in 1/4 cup of Merlot (I think that’s what I put in there) and let it simmer for another 5-7 minutes. After that, I seasoned the onions with some salt, pepper, oregano, basil, and thyme. Yes, I seasoned to taste, I usually do. After that I added the 2 cans of chicken stock then brought it to a simmer. I then added 1/4 cup of flour to thicken it. It became a little to thick so this about the time I added about 1/2 cup of water.

As to the Mung Bean Sprouts, I made this without a recipe. I sorta made this out of memory from taste. Its a dish my family cooks ever so often so I just remembered what I ate in a sense. I sliced some tomatoes lengthwise and minced 3 cloves of garlic. Heated a pan, I’d recommend a wok if you had one. Added just the right amount of oil in medium heat, waited a minute for the oil to heat up then threw in the garlic. I let cook for a bit, making sure not to brown the garlic then threw in the bean sprouts. I didn’t bash the sprouts, I highly recommend NOT doing that. Its better to get another wooden spatula or spoon and TOSS then vegetable. I let it cook for about 5 minutes then added the tomatoes and 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. Seasoned it with salt and sugar to taste. Cook a bit more then done. I was so happy that it was still crunchy!

That’s all for now. I’m going to the store to get some cream, I want to make chicken pot pie, plus I’m running low on my coconut milk. I probably will get buttermilk too and some pork and bacon. We’ll see.

Anyway, I would have complained to most of my friends about my falling hair and I decided to start on Redken’s Intra force system and see if i’d help the situation a little.

I had been toying with trying out a bob hairstyle but I decided against it because I am graduating next year. You must be thinking what has it got to do with graduation right? I always think it’s nicer to have long hair when you’re wearing the graduation square hat. Yes, I think really far! So, keeping long hair also means having to maintain and take care of it (especially for me since I have pretty weak hair), so I went to Salon Vim for my haircut. It was one of those days that I’d just tell my hair stylist to do whatever he wants to my hair, just make sure he doesn’t snip it all off because I intend to keep it long. So, he decided to give me straight bangs. This always happens when I tell any of hair stylist to do whatever they way. I have to say service was really good.

Lately I had been trying to cook my own meals because cooking is therapeutic. I always miscalculate and cook a little too much for just myself because my parents tend to not want to have dinner.

So yes, I’ve tried making a egg mushroom and onion patty to go with my sandwich and greens to go along. Made jacket potato for lunch the other day and I didn’t know it’s not as convenient as it looks. Baking that stupid potato took 90minutes! So in that 90 minutes, I made egg mayo infused (very generously) with truffle oil.

Now this is one of the favorite meals that i’ve made for myself. There’s fresh tiger prawns, chicken sausage, long beans, shitake mushroom, onions and eggs which green tea soba with dipping sauce. Tasted really good I wiped my plate clean although I cooked too much for 1 person again.

Attempted stuffs like macaroni in omelette wraps and stuffs and yes, cooking is really therapeutic after a tiring day in lab.

I had lunch with my dearest sister last week at Paragon and we had soba at Shimbashi Soba at the basement level. I was pleasantly surprised that the soba broth was really good. I love nabeyaki udon and their’s using buckwheat soba is healthy (i think) and tasted awesome. We ordered fried chicken to share and it was good too. Meat is tender and crispy on the outside. I think my sister enjoyed her nikku soba too. Will definitely visit this place again!

Anyway, I started using Tumblr and yes I know I’m lagging but it just means more distractions. jacq-lee.tumblr.com for interesting things I see that catches my eyes.

Dairy has been similarly maligned, and again I suspect it’s because of the over-consumption of poor quality dairy products. Try including a small quantity of high-value products in your diet sometime! It’s a brilliant way to extend the life of milk (thereby supporting small farmers seeking to add value to a highly perishable product), it’s a way to add richness, flavor, and protein to vegetable-based dishes, and cultured dairy products such as yogurt and kefir offer a load of healthful gut flora to our systems.

Alright, I’m off my soapbox and on to the actual topic of this post!

Bechamel sauce is the workhouse of my kitchen. And a touch of maple syrup goes a long way to giving the flavor of the sauce a bit of depth. Traditionally the sauce is made with white flour. But whole wheat flour and maple syrup have already been proven to go well hand in hand, and there is definitely a place for a heartier and more robust sauce in certain dishes.

Bechamel can be the base for a white pasta or pizza sauce. It can be a thickener for soups or stews. It can be a filler for casseroles, scalloped vegetable dishes and gratins, or pot pies. It can be the foundation for gravies and other toppers. Given its versatility, I knew I needed to better understand it. So I undertook another maple syrup-and-flour experiment: making a white flour bechamel and a whole wheat bechamel, and trying them each in two different dishes. I opted to try out the bechamel sauces on pizza and in pasta.

Bechamel is based on the foundation of melted butter with flour cooked in, also called a roux. Cooking the butter and flour together for certain lengths of time will change the flavor, appearance, and texture of the bechamel. Even with white flour, if the butter is browned and the roux cooks for several minutes it will become browner and nuttier in flavor. Or the roux can be left almost perfectly white if cooking only briefly after combining. Then the warm milk needs to be added slowly with constant stirring. Different percentages of milk will also change the bechamel. I only ever use heavy cream, half and half, and whole milk in my kitchen, but I would imagine that a thinner, lighter bechamel would result from using 2%, 1% or nonfat milk.

I started with a basic bechamel from Smitten Kitchen (because I was making a lasagna and I adore her lasgana post) that uses 1/2c flour and 1/2c butter, then 3 cups of whole milk and 1 of heavy cream. This produces enough sauce for one pizza and one 2 quart soup, two pizzas, or a large lasagna. I found that the white flour bechamel was thicker than the whole wheat bechamel. When I ran out of cream and used only milk, both were on the thin side. I prefer a thicker bechamel – it is always easier to thin something out eventually than to thicken it back up (plus maple syrup is another liquid that is getting added in), so I also decided to make up a bechamel with double the amount of flour to butter. Traditionally, a roux is equal parts weight of flour and butter rather than equal volumes of flour and butter. By this measure I would use 1/2c butter to 1c flour. So I did, and then I seasoned to taste with se salt, freshly ground nutmeg, and maple syrup.

Bechamels made up, I worked on the pizza dough. Incidentally, I had some lovely freshly ground whole wheat flour from the Grist Mill project here in central Maine that I was testing out – it made awesome dough. I’m starting to think Paul Bertolli is right about freshly gound flour being the single most important element for great dough. My preferred dough recipe is from Michael Ruhlman’s Ratio: 20oz flour (10 each of white and whole wheat), 12c warm water, 1/2 tsp dry yeast, 2 tsp salt, 1 T olive oil. This makes up enough dough for two pizzas. Each pizza was half white flour bechamel and half whole wheat flour bechamel. One had pumpkin, herbs, and grated pecorino and the other had apples, caramelized onions, tofu, and grated pecorino. Hands down Travis and I both preferred the whole wheat bechamel. Pizza dough, even great pizza dough, is bland. The white flour bechamel didn’t offer the same quality of depth and flavor that the whole wheat bechamel did. So that was an easy choice.

Next dish: baked pasta. The lasagna was probably not as great as Smitten Kitchen’s, the whole wheat dough and the tomato basil pasta sauce both being purchased at the store, but it was tasty. I used the white flour bechamel and it offered the right texture and creaminess to balance the acidity and zip of the tomato sauce, but not really anything on the flavor front.

Rather than create another lasagna (which would have been great but I was hosting an apple themed party today) I baked up an apple mac n’cheese. I made two baked pastas for the party, one with a thinner whole wheat bechamel and the other with a thicker whole wheat bechamel (and before you tell me that I was not as scientific as I could have been I will pre-empt you and explain that I am not the queen of science and I have a budget, a schedule, and a two-year old to contend with — this “experiment” should perhaps be called an exploration!).

Both were tasty and after baking the apples, the onions, the colby cheese, the sauce and the whole wheat noodles all together, there was no noticeable difference between the thicker bechamel and thinner bechamel. But the flavor of the whole dish was really good.

So at the end of all this exploring, here are some conclusions:
1. whole wheat bechamel has more flavor than white flour bechamel;
2. white flour bechamel vs. whole wheat flour bechamel in a sauce needs to be further explored based on the assumption that texture matters more here and the textures of the two sauces are very different;
3. whole wheat flour bechamel is probably better than white flour bechamel for a soup based on the assumption that the flavor is the critical factor and we’ve established the superiority of the flavor of whole wheat bechamel;
4. whole wheat flour bechamel is absolutely the best choice for pizzas and baked casserole and pasta dishes;
5. heavy cream is a good idea (this is simply a true statement regardless of the context); and
6. this is sort of an aside, but freshly ground whole wheat flour is quite awesome and will surely become a staple in my kitchen.

Next week, some revealing details about my food politics as I explore arrowroot powder vs. cornstarch vs. tapioca in maple pudding…

This is the recipe I used, with some extra elaborations because the original was not very clear. Or maybe I am too much of a baking noob because I was confused about why there were two different measurements for water! It’s obvious actually – there are two sets of ingredients, one for the filling, and the other for the pie pastry.

Apple Pie

For the filling:
6 apples
3/4 cup water
sugar to taste

For the pie crust pastry:
125g butter (should be really cold. put in freezer if necessary)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons water

1. Peel and slice the apples into a pot with the sugar and water.
2. Bring to boil and simmer until cooked – ie. soft. Drain and leave in the pot to cool.
3. Now for the piecrust. Sift flour into mixing bowl. Add sugar and butter. Rub with fingers until they resemble crumbs.
4. Add beaten egg and water. Mix everything with your hands until they form a dough.
5. Roll out half of the dough with a rolling pan on a floured surface. Cover bottom of greased pie dish with a rolled out pastry. Add the apple mixture to the pie.
6. Roll out the second half of the dough mix as before, and cover the apple mixture with the pastry on top.
7. Crimp the edges with your fingers or a folk, to make sure that both edges of the pastry are sealed together.
8. Sprinkle brown sugar on the top of the pastry.
9. Bake at 180 degrees celsius for 45 – 60 minutes or until brown.

I must say that I did not expect peeling apples to be so tedious. But that was the only tiring bit. The rest of the recipe is quite easy to follow, basically just throwing things together. You don’t even need to take out the mixer! I love the rubbing in method of baking. As long as your butter is really cold, it is a breeze. It took me an hour to get the pie in the oven.

If I bake this again, I will remember to cook the apples longer, so that it is much more soft. The end result was nonetheless yummy, and my brother (who is actually a better cook than me) enjoyed it too. I think it tastes best cold, from the fridge, for breakfast!

After making the pie, I discovered that my mum actually has a Breville Pie Maker! I’ll try making apple pie again in future, this time with the pie maker!

I used fresh basil, garlic, olive oil, and salt. I seasoned to taste, balance and everything. Turned out alright but I put too much olive oil. It got better after each re-heat.

Bok Choy

Chopped garlic sauteed first in very hot oil. The Bok Choy placed afterwards in the hot oil. Only flipped it once or twice so I don’t damage the leaves.

Cuscus

I boiled a can of chicken stock. Added equal parts cuscus and added some dried up something.. currants I think? Taste awesome! X)

This one though, probably the best out of the three. The onions are crunchy and sweet. The sauce balanced between curry, spices, and coconut milk. So its sweet and curry-y shall we say.

I just ate some… I want more. BUT, I must save it for variety. I’m bored of eating the same thing all over again.

Tomorrow off to the store to buy produce and more stuff. I want to try making some lemon bars and probably a key lime pie.

The importance of the cookie being established I assume it’s clear that I make cookies often. But in my house, white sugar and brown sugar are rarely used, and confectioner’s sugar almost never. I’ve had varying degrees of success with substituting maple syrup for those sugars and decided to hone on in what makes a successful and satisfying maple syrup-sweetened cookie.

Flour usually makes up the bulk of a baked good so I decided to tackle flour first. The basic question: is white flour or whole wheat flour better with maple syrup? To be scientific, I set a hypothesis of whole wheat flour being better with maple syrup because it has more flavor to stand up to the stronger-tasting sweetness of maple and more body to hold the increased liquidity of a maple-sweetened dough (but I knew that could all be hogwash; that assumption could simply be coming from the fact that most baked goods sweetened with maple syrup use whole wheat because, let’s face it, those of us sweetening with maple tend towards the crunchy-granola end of the spectrum and we are simply more likely to use whole wheat over white flour).

To cut down on too many variables spoiling the cookie I used the simplest recipe I have, the 1-2-3 cookie from the excellent book Ratio by Michael Ruhlman. The recipe calls for 1 oz of sugar, 2 oz of butter, and 3 oz of flour. It is a perfectly simple shortbread that, in its simplicity, is an excellent vehicle for making observations about flour.

Flour is, of course, more than simply or only white or whole wheat. Explore Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock’s The Gift of Southern Cooking and you can see their list of different brands and types of white flours and their specific uses for breads and rolls, biscuits, or pastry. Whole-grain cookbooks introduce spelt flours, rye flours, kamut flours, etc. Gluten-free cookbooks launch into the world of gluten-free flours such as brown rice or buckwheat. Pastry chefs and bakers have their own opinions on cake flours (low-protein, so less gluten and less bounce and elasticity) and bread flours (high-protein for establishing a strong gluten network). And Paul Bertolli, in his beautifully written Cooking By Hand, discusses his realization that improving his fresh pasta started with freshly freshly ground flours: “After years spent bent over the crank of my rolling machine, it dawned on me that my pasta, though good, was not getting better. Since I was certain that making pasta from scratch and by hand was critical to achieving fine noodles, it became evident that focusing my attention on their fundamental ingredient, flour, must be the next step.” (p92).

We cannot all be so fortunate as to have the money for or access to the variety and quality of flours that the pro’s use. But it does behoove all of us kitchen junkies to play with flour a bit to find what works best for our preferences.

So here we go with the notes from my maple syrup-flour-cookie experiment…
—————————————————————————————–
Procedure:
Let 2 oz (1/2 stick, or 1/4c) butter sit out until soft. Cream thoroughly – this is important for being able to mix in the syrup well! Add 1 oz of maple syrup (approximately 1.5 T) and mix well. Stir in 3 oz of flour (about 3/4c). I like to add 1/4 tsp of salt to the flour first, but it’s not necessary.

Shape the dough into small balls then press onto a cookie sheet and bake at 375 until done. Alternately, these can be rolled into a log, wrapped in wax paper, and refrigerated for baking at a later time. Bake them 10 minutes or so? I confess to being terrible at using timers, I just check the cookies regularly. I find this is a better baking practice anyways, there are an infinite number of variables that can affect cooking time and that frequently change from day to day. Best to be in the habit of keeping an eye on whatever is in the oven.

Simply handling the dough was fascinating! The white flour cookies were so much softer and more malleable. The whole wheat flour cookies felt more rugged in my hands and cracked along the edges more as they were pressed onto the sheet. During baking, the white flour cookies cooked a little more quickly and when pulled out of the oven were firmer to the touch than the whole wheat flour cookies.

Both cookies were done, although the whole wheat cookies could have stayed in the oven another minute or two while the white flour cookies would have likely started burning. I let them cool, then did the big taste test. The white flour cookies were sweeter and a little more crumbly and delicate in texture. The flavor of the butter really came through, reminding me how important it is to use quality butter when baking. The whole wheat cookies had a nuttier, heartier taste. They were less sweet overall, yet the flavor of the maple came through a little more. Although still shortbread-y in nature these cookies had a toothier body than the white flour cookies.

Conclusion: either flour is fine, it is truly preference-based and the choice should depend primarily on the desired outcome. The white flour cookies would be nicer after dinner with tea, the whole wheat cookies would be better as an afternoon snack with a glass of good milk. Also, any variations of the recipe would suggest one flour over the other. Almond extract and chopped almonds on top? I would go with white flour. Toasted walnuts and a bit of cocoa powder? Go whole wheat.

My last notes regarding this experiment – just to be thorough I tried a batch of cookies with 1.5oz of whole wheat flour and 1.5oz of white flour. I found that this actually captured the worst of both worlds! I love going half and half with flour on bread, pizza dough, and pie crust, but with the cookies I got neither the delicate texture and buttery flavor of a white flour cookie or the hearty, nutty quality of a whole wheat cookie.

I’ll re-address this maple syrup and flour issue in the next post which will cover bechamel sauce. Next time I talk cookies it will be to discuss my preferred fat for sweetening cookies with maple syrup…

Onward!

*from the movie Stranger Than Fiction. Possibly my favorite line from a movie ever. When Will Ferrell brings baker gal Maggie Gyllenhaal a box of flours to woo her, my heart melts.

Kent and I had been planning to do something special this weekend because he’s starting a new job on Monday and we wanted to have a relaxing weekend that is different from what we had been doing (aka bumming around). We wanted to have a short beach getaway but since we might have tickets to watch F1, we chuck the plans aside and decided to have a picnic instead! The boyfriend thought that I had forgotten about his food request but I didn’t. So I woke up in the morning and prepared truffle mash, scrambled eggs, creamy mushroom and bacon enoki. Actually, he only requested for mashed potatoes, that bummer had been complaining that I haven’t made him his favorite potato fix in a long time. So, I made truffle mash instead, love it when I prepare my own because then, the truffle oil will be generous.  I forgot to take the salad that I prepared out of the fridge

and my mere 5-6 hours of sleep made me really tired. Btw, we had our “picnic” at vivo instead because the weather was threatening and didn’t want to risk being caught in the rain.

We headed home to change and then off to MBS for the F1 skypark party. We were hoping for good buffet food which they served last year but it was just canapés this time round and the boyfriend and pang can’t satisfy their hunger with just that we had our dinner at db bistro instead. Same old disappointment, db bistro serves sub-standard and overpriced food so once again, I swore never to return again. Pizzeria Mozza FTW (the waiting time was too long and they were too hungry last night).

tired tired…..