Christmas coma..

Man, I love Christmas. I know, I know, I sound like a broken tape. It's just that Christmas always takes me back to my childhood Decembers, spent in the unforgiving cold of the Widnes outdoors. Where everyone would flock outside at the first sight of snow. Where hellos and Happy Christmas-ses flew out effortlessly, without caring who you knew and who you didn't. It was the only time of the year, where everyone had a mutual understanding that we were all a part of something nice and lovely and good. Something big.

No, I'm not talking about the birth of jesus christ (unless you're into that, then I guess I am). I'm talking about that familial feeling of love and hope and other sickeningly sweet things that only Christmas can afford. That feeling you get when you pass by rows of houses all decked out with bright lights and other sparkly things.  That feeling you get when the smell of freshly baked goods from the local bakery fills your airways. Yes, Widnes was that kind of town. Yes, we had that kind of Christmas.

Well even though my Christmas is not quite as picturesque these days, it's still my favourite time of the year and when my mom suggested eating out for Christmas this year, I fervently refused. I mean what would Christmas be without a home-cooked dinner?

We ended up with 2 Christmas dinners this year. One for Christmas eve, the other for Christmas Day. It was a hectic process that began a whole day before Christmas eve. Requests were considered, dibs were called, and workloads were assigned.  My mom would do the shopping, I'd do the cooking, with the help of my youngest sister, and the rest of my family members would do the washing up.

There's one unwritten rule when cooking Christmas dinners in this household, simplicity. The underlying theme is always traditional, hearty dishes, something that even my very very asian dad could enjoy.

Christmas Eve

Roast Beef and Vegetables

Sweet Potato Gratin

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Yorkshire Pudding

Raspberry White Chocolate Mousse

Christmas Day

Egg and Cheese Bake, for breakfast

Roast Chicken w/ Pork and Apple Stuffing

Spicy Potato Knish

Sticky Red Cabbage w/ Bacon and Apple

Suffice to say, we had enough food to feed a small army. I'm not even counting all the cookies and cakes that arrived at our doorstep Christmas day.  Among the most scrumptious was a blueberry cheesecake from our lovely neighbours and an apple strudel courtesy of my friend, Jeannette.

At the end of the day, We were all pretty stuffed. Jeannette assured me that it was physically impossible to gain 10 pounds in the span of 2 days, a fact that I was sure had happened to me. With that in mind, I went to bed exhausted but strangely fulfilled, in more ways than one.

Sticky Red Cabbage w/ Bacon & Apple

adapted from Jamie Oliver

Delicious, rich, tangy. This dish complimented the roast chicken so perfectly it's not even funny. I suspect it would go brilliantly with all kinds of roasted meat though. So definitely give it a go. 

• 100 gr streaky bacon, bite-size pieces
• 1 small red cabbage head, roughly chopped
• 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and cubed
• 1 medium onion
• 75 ml balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 handful of parsley, finely chopped
• 1 knob butter
• salt and pepper
• olive oil

First off, heat pan with a generous serving of olive oil then add bacon. Cook until the bacon starts to shed their fat then add the onion and brown sugar. Cook with the lid on for a couple of minute, giving the onions time to caramelized. When all is nice and sticky, add the apple, cabbage, vinegar and season with salt and pepper.  Put the lid back on and let cook for at least 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve with parsley and butter on top.

Yield: 3-4 Servings.

Macarons malfunction..

The past 2 days I have been stuck in my kitchen trying to bake decent macarons. For those of you hoping for a recipe here, let me save you some time, there's not going to be one. I baked and baked, going from one recipe to the next, but each one just seems worst than the last. I have gone through bags of sugar, a couple dozen eggs and about a kg in almond meals, only to end up with hundreds of crippled macarons (It actually reminded me of this dream I had once, but instead of macarons it was babies, well out of order, I tell you) I probably shouldn't post these pictures and save myself the embarrassment, but what can I say, I'm a masochist like that.

1. My first batch, off to a good start, if I do say so myself.

2. Nodded off for 15 minutes before waking up to this. My bad.

3. Really thought I had it with that batch. 

Although my experience with macarons is somewhat limited to the handful of times I actually had them, I'm pretty sure, texture wise, I'm almost there. It's just no matter what I do, I could not get them feet people are always talking about. sigh.

I'd say this though, at least they tasted alright, and lucky for me, not a lot of my friends are familiar with this particular confectionery so they welcomed my handi-capable mutant macarons with open arms when  these arrived on their doorstep. 

I probably would still be baking macarons if it weren't for the fact that today is christmas eve and there are hungry family members to be fed. More on that tomorrow though. Right now I am slowly falling into a food-induced-coma and my fingers are going numb from all the sugar and cream and sugasr amnd creamn.

paece 

jopn

Home for the holidays..

"Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city." George Burns.

My family is not what you would call normal. There's no denying it. We are not stable people. This time of year especially, what with all the cookies and cakes. High sugar and short fuses does not a merry Christmas make folks.  Still, you know what they say, home is where the heart is, - or in my case - where the oven is.  I kid, I kid.  Yes, membership in this household requires you to have selective listening skills and a tolerance for high-pitched screaming. Yes, we have a no-privacy policy, but yet here I am, home. As we speak, I am writing this post in my dad's room - since my little sister has taken over my old room, I no longer have a place in this house- feeling nostalgic and wondering what it would be like if I ever decided to move back home.  Fortunately, those are the kinds of melancholy that will fade away the longer I spend in this house.  Don't get me wrong, I love my family but they are, as anyone who has ever spend time with us will tell you, a bit of an acquired taste and best enjoyed in small doses. 

I have got to be honest though, I am not feeling christmas-y yet. Which is strange because I love Christmas, I mean LOVE. Borderline obsessive. I am that girl who starts buying Christmas presents as soon as December comes around and spends more money on wrappings than on the actual present. But the thing I enjoy doing most of all is planning the Christmas menu. I usually do 2. One for Christmas eve and the other for Christmas day.  This post today is not about that however. This is an exposé.. on avocados.

Ok, not so much an exposé, more like a short compare-and-contrast ramblings on the use of avocados. See, I have a friend, Alex. Il est un Français. I once took him to an Indonesian restaurant at which I ordered a glass of avocado juice/milkshake to his dismay.  At that point, I didn't even realize that there was any other way to prepare avocados. All my life, I've only ever had avocados as something you would have as a dessert. As a shake, or in this local dessert called Es Teler ("Es" means ice and "Teler" means high, inebriated or stoned, so go figure). But here he was, someone who thinks the exact opposite. He was reluctant at first, but once he tried it, he actually liked it, or at least that's how I chose to remember it.  Anyways, that's where this idea came from. That is how I seek to find the answer to what I called, the avocado anomaly.

Avocado & White Chocolate Mousse

Vs

Spicy Crab Cakes with Guacamole

At first I wanted to make a simple avocado shake for the sweet portion of this showdown but where's the fun in that. What you need for the mousse:

• 2 cups heavy cream, chilled
• 4 large egg yolks
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 large avocado, pureed
• 6 oz good white chocolate, in pieces
• pinch of salt

First, we have to make the custard.  Whip the egg yolks with the sugar and a pinch of salt then go and heat the cream.  I said heat, don't boil, so use only low-medium heat. Once heated, pour the cream slowly into the yolks, mixing it at the same time.  Once it's thoroughly combined, put the mixture back onto the heat, stirring it constantly.

Now, put the chocolate in a double boiler (for those of you not familiar with that term, it's basically putting a glass bowl over a pot of boiling water) melting the chocolate with the steam. 

Combine the chocolate with the custard and the avocado puree. Whisk until the whole thing is smooth and silky.  Now go ahead and beat the remaining cream until soft peaks. Be careful not to over whip the cream. Over whipped cream tastes grainy and feels very heavy. We want light and smooth.

Lastly, fold the whipped cream into the custard mixture gently. Chill in the fridge for a couple hours. When the mousse is all nice and chilled, sift coffee grounds onto mousse and garnish with white chocolate shavings (which is done by running the sharp edge of your knife along the smooth side of a chocolate bar)

The bitterness of the coffee grounds compliments the sweetness of the mousse perfectly. For those of you who never had avocados as a dessert before, trust me, this mousse is a great introduction. 

For the savoury portion I made spicy crab cakes served with guacamole though I must warn you, I have never made guacamole before and from what I gather from google images they're supposed to be green, mine came out really yellowish/orange because I used red instead of green jalapeno which I don't think affects the taste much, or even at all.

What you need:

Guacamole

adapted from Saveur.com

• 1 large, ripe avocado
• 1 large tomato
• 3 limes
• cilantro, finely chopped
• 1/2 a yellow onion, chopped
• 2 jalapeno, chopped
• salt and pepper

I used a mortar and pestle to combine all the ingredients. Well except the avocado, I put half in first along with the rest of the ingredients and chopped the other half into tiny cubes. After mashing all the ingredients, toss in the rest of the avocado and fold gently. Season with salt and pepper.

Crab Cakes

• 150 gr crab meat
• 3 sheets of whole wheat bread, whizzed into crumbs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup heavy cream, heated in a pan
• 1/2 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp powdered red pepper
• swiss cheese
• scallions, white parts only, chopped
• cilantro, finely chopped
• parsley, chopped
• panko (japanese bread crumbs)

Combine all the ingredients except for the parsley, the panko and the cheese.  Use your hands to really get all the flavours into each other.  Shape them into little patties. Insert the cheese into the patties making sure that they're well in the center and completely obscured. Brush the patties all over with egg yolks. Combine the panko and parsley. Toss the cakes around in the panko mixture.

 Fry them on medium-low heat until golden brown.

 Yields: 4 cakes.

So, which one do I prefer you ask? it's like comparing my children, I can't do it. I honestly loved them both.  The moose was a huge hit with the kids and the crab cakes with the guacamole is one of the best recipes ever, if I do say so myself.  Then I had an epiphany so to speak.  What is the most common words used to describe the taste of avocados? Buttery, yes. Nutty, yes. Both of which are used in sweet and savoury dishes. Ok, so not so much of an epiphany as an obvious observation but there you go.

Toasty withdrawal..

I tried and tried and tried some more.. but alas I have failed.  I promised myself that I would stay away from posting until finals are over.  Evidently, it's not going as I've planned.  Me and distractions go together like, chocolate and peanut butter, I tell you that much.  Just the other night my friend, Adhit, came over on what was supposed to be a study date.  It lasted for all of about 15 minutes.  Somehow we ended up having tea, honey toast, and watching a documentary about how the word "fuck" came to be.  Good news: I  actually did learn something that day. Bad news: my system design professor disagreed.

Alright, I probably didn't do terribly well the next day, although quite a bit better than I expected, but is it my fault that this semester has bored me into the land of the heedless and wayward? I think not.

At least the sun was being kind that day, making my long walk of shame back home seemed less, well, long.

Anyways, life goes one, and so will I.  As my last post indicated, I have just recently renewed my bat-sh*t crazy love for toast.  Normal meals are but a distant memory now as I go on my 5th day on toasty goodness. I am addicted.

Yoghurt and grapes, quick and so delicious..

Scrambled eggs, bacon and cheese. Yes, again, but I dare you to find a tastier breakfast.

Packed lunch : Toast sandwich.

Part of the reason I love toast so much is that it's so quick to prepare and you can literally put whatever you want on it. It's a blessing I tell you.  As a lowly college student, I'm pretty much almost always in a rush so this is a great alternative to all the fast food I'll otherwise be eating.  

Having said that however, I feel I need a break from all the toasty madness, after all a girl can't live on toast alone (believe me, I've tried), I need me some variations, the sweet and spicy kind. So to facilitate me withdrawal from toast, enter, my super soy stir fry. 

What you need:

• 1/4 of a large cabbage head, chopped
• 100 grams firm tofu
• 75 grams tempe
• chili pepper (I used 1 large chili pepper, and 2 bird's eye chili or cabe rawit as it's known locally, but I like my stir fry really hot, so adjust accordingly)
• 2 large garlic, crushed into mush.
• cilantro, chopped
• soy sauces, both kind, sweet and savoury
• oyster sauce (optional)

First thing you need to do, and this is a little secret I learned when I was living in some remote village in Java for a school thing, is to marinade both the tofu and tempe with the one mushed garlic, salt, pepper and a couple tablespoon of water.  They'll soak up all that flavour almost instantly but you want to leave them at least 10-15 minutes in the marinade.  I suggest preparing your other ingredients in the meantime.
At the end of the 15 minutes, get the tofu and tempe out of the marinade and into a hot frying pan until they're golden brown.  I fried them using peanut oil, but vegetable oil will do just fine.  Drain the fried tofu and tempe on a paper towel and set aside the tofu to cool.  Get the tempe, toss them with some chilly and 1 tablespoon of sweet soy sauce while it's hot.

Now we wanna get started on the actual stir fry.  Lightly oil your pan or wok (in my case) in medium heat, toss in the crushed garlic then the chili and stir quickly (10-15 seconds, you don't wanna burn the garlic) before adding the cabbage.  Stir fry for a while until the cabbage is well cooked, now your pan is probably looking a bit dry at this point, add just a couple tablespoons of water, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, oyster sauce, pepper and sweat the whole thing out.  This will give the cabbage that melt-in-your-mouth texture.

When the water has all but disappeared, turn the heat down, toss in the fried tofu and the cilantro and just gently fold the stir fry.  Take the whole thing off the heat and in a plate.  Get your sweet tempe, sprinkle on top of the stir fry, along with more fresh chili and cilantro. Serve with rice or as is, and it'll be one of the easiest, cheapest, tastiest stir fry you'll ever have, I guarantee it.

Yield: 2 serving.

Toast for tea..

I love rain. It is one of my favourite things in the world, up there with puppies and freshly washed babies.  I love the smell, the sound, and I love how it cools down everything especially in this part of the world.  The streets emptied out, window gazing becomes a must and life slows down at least for a while.  What's not to love about a natural phenomena that makes you want to curl up under a blanket and just chill out?  it's rather nice, no?

Well, it's raining at the moment so it's been a pretty cool afternoon. The kind of afternoon I love, the kind of afternoon that makes my stomach yearn for a cup of hot tea and warm toasts.   

There is hardly a recipe here, just strawberries on toast topped with a spoonful of honey.  So simple but so good.  It's my new go-to food for tea and my current obsession.  All I do is think about stuff I could put on toast and that list is pretty extensive I tell you. and I don't even have a toaster.  I toast all my bread on my pan.  My non-stick pan is godsend.

I like my toast to be really crunchy (otherwise what's the point, it'll just be bread) and this one is made of really good whole wheat bread.  

Strawberries, chopped into bite-size pieces. Now, strawberries is just one of those things that for some reason, I always have in the fridge. I am incapable of passing fresh strawberries at the supermarket and not getting them. It's out of my control.

Strawberries go on the toast, and yes, that's the top half of a grape you're seeing.  Grapes are probably too sweet to combine with honey, but one or two (as I've done here) couldn't hurt, plus they look all kinds of gorgeous so what the hell.

Spoonful of honey on top is plenty, trust me. The only problem I had with this toast is as soon as I took a bite, I know this one toast would not suffice.

I had this with a hot cup of green tea on a rainy sunday afternoon and it totally made my day.  Just one of those afternoon that your brain took a mental picture of and all subsequent sunday afternoons are measured against.  It was that good. 

In fact, I'm going to go and make another one now.  Then I'm going to enjoy it while I sit by my window, gazing out at the rain not feeling the least bit guilty of this slight act of voyeurism (albeit, as I read somewhere, less creepy and with a dose of humanity) or of the fact that finals are this coming monday and I haven't done diddly-squat. 

peace out.

jon

Twas a grate day..

Disclaimer : there will be blood.

Today did not begin well, and tomorrow won't likely be the start of a good weekend for me.  Finals are two days away and I've yet to open a single text book, do any of my assignments or type a single line of code.  I know you can't tell, thanks to the no-exclamation-mark rule in this blog, but I am slightly panicking right now, and after getting only 3 hours of sleep last night, I  probably won't be making much sense from here on out.

I had 2 things on my mind when I woke up at 4:30 this morning.  One, I need to find my sister's camera which I had apparently "lost".  Two,  I'll finally get around to buying a new kitchen knife today.  I was anxious and all geeked at the same time but, being a recently converted morning person, going back to sleep was not an option.  I know now that was a grave mistake but, my stomach was calling out to me and the thought of hot foamed latte and cheesy scrambled eggs was too good to resist.

Awesome morning sunlight, apparently getting up early has its benefits.

If there is a list of things I wouldn't be able to live without, my french press would be among the highest ranking members.  Probably the best 100k I've ever spent. No jokes.  It brews me good coffee, it foams milk perfectly, and single-handedly revolutionize my morning coffee experience.  Gone were the days of drinking coffee from a can or a plastic sachets and best of all, gone were the days of unfoamed milk.  Ok, I might be a little obsessed with foamed milk (and by a a little, I mean a lot) but trust me, if you brew your own coffee you can't help it.

Scrambled eggs with bacon and cheese cubes

Anyways, I was feeling great after my breakfast and life went on.  Fast forward to 12 pm, I was in the kitchen store,  trying out knives and feeling a bit lethargic (no comment there), when I noticed a perfectly shiny all-sided grater, not unlike this one.  I went to pick it up and examine the sides, as you do with an all-sided grater, and as I stood there, the freaking storekeeper creeped up behind me and practically screamed "can I help you?" right into my ear.  Next thing I know, the grater was up in the air, but, thanks to my cat-like reflexes, I instantly snatched it back, only to regret it exactly 3 seconds later.  Why?

This why

That might not look like much, but that motherf***ing hurts

That's not even the worst part.  The worst part was me standing there pretending like my skin didn't just got peeled off with a cheese grater while the shopkeeper apologized and once again asked me if he could indeed, help me.  

Well, at least I went home with what I came for, the knife, albeit with less skin than I had, but a lesson is learned. Sleep deprivation, dangerous stuff, kids.

Now, I was actually debating whether or not to write a recipe for my scrambled eggs since its pretty simple, ingredients-wise, but I know some people *coughmymothercough* have trouble getting that nice soft consistency so I figured it couldn't hurt.

What you need:

• 1 slice of streaky bacon, chopped into tiny bite size pieces
• 2 organic eggs
• 3 Belcube swiss cheese cube, cut in halves
• dried oregano, optional

Basically just add bacon to a hot pan.  I use a non-stick pan, so I don't generally use butter or oil.  Cook the bacon for a minute or two in high heat until some of the fat melts away.  Now add the eggs and take the pan of heat. Now scramble the eggs, cooking it with the residual heat left from cooking the bacon.  Keep scrambling until all the heat is used up.  Add the cheese then put the pan back on very low heat.  Keep scrambling until it is the consistency you want.  Sprinkle the dried oregano on top.

Yield: 1 serving

The past perfect..

"True nostalgia is an ephemeral composition of disjointed memories" Florence King

Nostalgia is a powerful thing. No man can escape it. We use it to scrub out all the rough edges of our past until only the good old days remain. Some might call it denial, but I see it as a tool of survival. It is easier for us to remember all the things we've lost than to think of all the things we never had, and/or will never have. The good in our past, however little or abundant, will help define the good of our present. Some might say the same of our mistakes, our dreary past, but if there is a single force that drives us to go on living, it's the hope for tomorrow. The hope for better. Now, "better" is defined differently in every man's dictionary, but rare is the man who wishes for the worst.

Ok, so I might have woken up on the existential side of my bed this morning but I will tell you that this post ends with me cooking an awesome curry dish. I mean, I'm not usually the type to get hung up on the past, good or bad, but once in a while, it catches up with you like a motherf***er.

Just the other day, While waiting for my morning coffee to brew, I turned on the TV and switch to the food channel. Now 2 weeks past Thanksgiving (although here we just call it Thursday), they're still showing their Thanksgiving specials which consist a lot of mashed potatoes, vegetables,sauces and of course humongous roasted turkeys. Among them is a root vegetable I've recently been fascinated with, sweet potatoes. See, here sweet potatoes are considered pauper's food. They're usually coated with flour, deep fried and eaten as afternoon snack. I love them, but the only other way I can remember having them is when I was younger. Mashed with butter and perfectly seasoned, in a pub lunch I had with my friend once. Of course, it was accompanied by a vast arrays of other, albeit not as appetizing, mashed vegetables. Peas, turnip, to name a few, all of which was very well done I'm sure. It's just as a child, the sight of mushy green lump of goo that is the mashed peas, well let's just say it's not something I considered swallowing back then.

So all of sudden, as I was sitting there on the couch, my coffee horribly over-brewing, I started to reminisce on all the food I used to love growing up in England. I was being nostalgic I can tell, because my affections for British food are only comparable to the ones you have for a stranger's child. You like them enough, but you don't think about them once they're out of your sight. Having said that, there are a few exceptions. I do miss good fish and chips. I miss how it's socially acceptable, even expected, to douse your chips with vinegar. I miss all of the bacon and sausages, best I've ever tasted. But most of all, I miss British curry, which contrary to popular beliefs, is actually spicier and hotter and, in my humble opinion, better than their Indian counterpart.

Well, long story short, I had curry in mind for the rest of the day. I knew I was going to attempt making some sort of curry, which is why I chose my next recipe, Kedgeree.

For all of you not familiar with kedgeree, it's basically a rice dish cooked with curry powder/paste, served with some flaked fish and boiled eggs. I love it because unlike other curry dishes, kedgeree is extremely light and the curry here compliments the other ingredients nicely instead of over-powering and being its normal dominating self.

What you need:

• 2 servings of boiled rice (I used brown rice in this recipe for the texture, but white rice is fine)
• 400 ml whole milk
• 4 eggs
• 250 gr haddock (you can use any fish you like actually, although I find that white-meat fish is better suited for this dish)
• 2 tiger prawns (this is optional, in fact prawns are not part of a traditional kedgeree recipe, but i saw these babies at the market so fresh, I couldn't help myself)
• 1 onion 
• chilly ( how many depends on how spicy you want it to be)
• cilantro
• 1 lemon
• green curry paste (unseasoned, I forgot the brand* I used but it was cheap as dirt and contains no msg or salt)

*UPDATE: green curry paste was called lobo.

 What to do:

1. pour the milk in a pan along with an equal part of water and bring it to simmer.
2. season with salt and pepper and  pop in the haddock, the prawns along with the eggs
3. let it simmer for 6 minutes before taking out the egg.  Once you do, drown the eggs in ice water to stop it from over-cooking)
4. continue simmering until haddock and prawns are well done.
5. while you're waiting, sautee the onions and chillies with oil, before adding the curry paste.
6. take the onions of the heat and add your rice to the pan.
7. take out the haddock and prawns. Set the prawns in a plate.
8. flake the haddock, peel and chop the eggs into tiny bite size pieces.
9. gently mix the haddock and the eggs into the rice and onions.
10. season with salt & pepper
11. add cilantro, lemon zest and lemon juice to taste.
12. put the whole thing back on the heat and cook for an additional 5-10 minutes.
13. add some more cilantro and fresh chilly once off the heat.

 Yield: 2-3 servings generously.

Quarterlife crisis

Who thinks college classes translates to afternoon naps? i do.  2 weeks of exams then the countdown to my last year of college shall start and man do i look forward to that.

Candy in Cream

Ok, a foreword before we begin.  This recipe calls for the making of caramel.  If you've never made caramel before there is a tiny (when i say tiny i meant humongous) chance that this dish will be, what my always encouraging little sister calls "an epic fail".

Like all things embraced by the masses strawberry and cream have become this rather cliche, pedestrian dish.  It's just too obvious of a pair, like cut & paste, starsky & hutch or, if i was the jesus-y type, adam & eve.  you get the drift.  Although i enjoy all of those things immensely (cut & paste, my homies), they can get a little, how the french say, banal.  So i've decided to give our little friends the strawberries and cream my favourite thing in the whole world to do.  Makeover! (*clap own hands).

What you need:

• 8 medium-large sized strawberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup Mascarpone cream (this is what i use in my recipe but if you're tight on budget, cream cheese will do)
• 1 lemon
• fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• 2 skewers
• 1 foil pie plate

If you're new to making caramel, I suggest you start by preparing all the ingredients first and leaving the caramel last on your list.

1. skew the strawberries, 4 for each skewer, make sure the length of your skewer is quite a bit longer than the diameter of your pie plate.
2. place the skewered strawberries on top of the pie plate, making sure that they're not touching the bottom of the plate. 

- Imagine the people as your strawberries.

- Take a second to recover from that image.

At this point, put the plate aside and get started on your cream.

1. beat the mascarpone with powdered sugar (taste to get the right amount of sugar)
2. grate some lemon zest into the cream
3. squeeze the lemon juice into the cream
4. add rosemary 
5. gently fold the cream to mix.

Now for the caramel, of course you can do all the above while waiting for the caramel to boil, but if you're new at this, trust me, you wanna keep an eye on it.

1. add about 8 tablespoon of water to a saucepan (preferably a nice thick pan)
2. add 1 cup of sugar to the pan
3. put on extremely low heat
4. when the the bubbles get smaller and starts to turn golden brown, quickly remove it from the heat (Warning: don't muck about, sugar melts at a very high temperature, so that pan is HOT) and pour the caramel onto your strawberries.

Let the caramel strawberries cool down for a bit.  Set your plate, cream in the center.  Slide the gorgeous crunchy candy strawberries off the skewers and place them on top of cream and devour.

Yield: 2 serving

Egg Pancaco

Ok, first recipe ever so only fitting to go with a staple of my breakfast table.  Egg pancaco. egg pancakes styled like a taco. i'm hilarious i know.

The idea for this dish actually came from some random tv show i was watching the other day.  This dude was making egg salad (pretty good actually, recipe for that later) and he was making these really thin egg pancakes for the egg portion of the salad.  Watching this, i actually thought he was going to put the vegs and wrapped it in the pancake right. Which would have been brilliant. But he didn't, instead he went mad with his kitchen knife, slayed the poor pancake and tossed it in his salad.  Moral of this story? i don't know BUT twas definitely a case of... what's the opposite of instant gratification? startling upset?

Anyways its the perfect dish to start off your day. delicious and rich in proteins.
This is basically an eggs-bacon-cheese dish.  What you need:

• 2 eggs
• cheese (any kind, though i prefer mild cheddar for this)
• 1 piece streaky bacon, chopped into bite size pieces
• 1/4 onion, finely diced
• dried oregano
• salt & pepper to season

Oh also for this recipe you will definitely be needing a good non-stick pan.  What to do:

Egg Pancake:

1. crack 1 egg, season with salt & pepper and beat with a fork.
2. place non-stick pan on low heat.
3. pour the egg into the pan and spread into a thin even pancake.

4. keep pan on heat until the outer edge of the pancake starts to brown.

    5. remove pancake from the pan unto a plate.

        

Fillings:

1. oil pan and put on medium heat
2. lightly cook bacon and diced onion in pan.
3. put the pan on very low heat.
4. break an egg over bacon & onion and use a spoon to scramble the egg.
5. remove the pan from heat once egg is done.
6. season with salt & pepper (optional, the bacon tends to be quite salty already so season at your own discretion)

Place the cheese & scrambled eggs on top of the egg pancake.

Fold the pancake in half and put it back on the pan with very low heat to crisp up the pancake & melt the cheese (if it hasn't already)

Flip the pancake over and heat the other side.

Voila, Pancaco.

Simple, takes about 10-15 minutes to make and you can substitute the fillings with whatever you like, although i don't recommend eliminating cheese out of the equation since that is a mortal sin. 

Yield: 1 serving.

First Post

Hi.
Life is a bunch of hellos, so this is another one.
I heed and I hawed and I finally cave in.
So what brought this sudden change of heart? What dared me to thread on this perilous ground, dear faceless void of the internet?

Well, in a nutshell, I've decided to have this space so I can start writing again.  I used to write a lot. and cook a lot. These days not so much.  These days I'm too busy with school stuff.  I mean I love coding a game as much as the next person, but dammn is it a grind.  I still cook, but only out of necessity, not anything exciting.

Since the holidays are just around the corner I've decided to cook my way through this holiday.  I'll be working with new recipes and/or putting my own twist to classic dishes but most of all, i really want to improve my baking skills.

Anyways, this is a practical way for me to do all of the above.  No delusions of grandeur here. I promise to never use exclamation marks but I will leave you dear reader with my favourite Mark Twain quote,
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

peace.

p.s i just realized they have a term that could sum up all of the above pretty swiftly. QUARTERLIFE CRISIS.