Chocolate Souffle Palo

 

 

I would like to wish all family and friends, a HAPPY NEW YEAR.  A very sincere THANK YOU to all readers and fan who continue to come and read my humble postings.

Last year, Sandra ate at Palo, an adults-only restaurant on Disney Wonder Cruise, she raved about the Chocolate Souffle and when we ate at Palo in Disney Fantasy,  i can understand her raving.  Now I can chime my own praises and am so inspired that i have to bake them.  I found the recipe for Chocolate Souffle from Palo Disney Cruise Line and followed the method to the tee.  It was magical,  the souffles turned out airy, rich with creamy center and this complex confection rounded out our dinner with perfection.  My family an friends have not stop talking about this chocolate souffle.     They commented that i was really inspired cos i even made the cookie spoon which Palo used to garnish.  I  do regret that i did not make any chocolate sauce to go along with the vanilla sauce.  Well, will make chocolate sauce the next time around and will remember to sprinkle confectioner's sugar before serving(Was so excited to take the pic for posting that i totally forgot about the confectioner's sugar, thinking that the souffle will deflate, but it did not, it held high and made me brimming with pride)

Christmas Log

 

 

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year and

Bing Crosby, dream on, your dream will be coming true for us here this year, we will be getting A White Christmas.  So - Let It Snow, Let It Snow. Baby It's Cold Outside, Start the fireplace and gather your family around and have A Jolly Holly Christmas and Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree.  All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth would be Alexander's wish and Renee will be happy that her FROSTY is a rabbit and not melt away when the sun comes out like Frosty the snowman,  . We Wish you (all) a Merry Christmas.

Since it is going to be A White Christmas, I have made the Christmas Log covered with whipped cream and it has real shitake mushrooms.  Yes, these shitake mushrooms are a snack and so appropriate for my christmas log. 

Rose Wantan

 

 

Has it been that long?  5 weeks????? no posting!!  OMG, time really goes by fast when you are occupied.  Was really occupied, entertaining visitors, entertaining myself by going for a
Cruise - Disney Fantasy Cruise.  Had a Fantastic time especially enjoyed the food on board,  fine dining nightly with the most fabulous menu.  Could not decide what to order and our server had to bring me 2 entrees and 2 desserts - yes nightly.  The best part of all is that the orders are free,  the menu has no price tag.  Can't wait for breakfast every morning,  the buffet lounge is endless, the food was displayed in a circle and breakfast items are endless too - gravlax, smoked salmon, smoked mackerel, smoked trout, etc. Even the egg benedict served here was perfectly done and i had the pleasure of ordering egg benedict at Royal Court which was delicious.  Am running out of words to describe the food.  The second best part of the cruise was that i did not have to cook although i would love to.  But i did learn how to make strudel dough from scratch and make lobster ravioli from the chef of REMY. the famous french restaurant on board.

 

Now that i am back on land, the kitchen will be busy again.  There is nothing much that i can cook with until grocery shopping time.  Found some shrimp and wanted to make wantan but oh no, no wantan skin!!.  Found a packet of egg roll skin and remembered that making fried wantans with egg roll skin is in my do list.  Can't wait to start making them and the finished wantans were not only deliciously crispy but oh so pretty.

 

Conchas/Mexican Buns

Have you ever felt like you have been burned out from blogging?  After blogging for so many years, since 2005, i felt like i am running out of juice.  Lately, i have a lot of aches and pains,  my friend said that i could be suffering from 'A G E', i asked if it was serious and she gave me a straight face which made me want to run to ER and ask if i really have 'A G E'.  I felt so silly when she broke up and laughed her heart out, then she said that i am not young any more and that struck me that she was pulling my leg, yes, i am suffering from 'age'.  After 6 decades of standing improperly, the poor muscles must be off-balanced and causing all these aches and pains.  I am not defeated yet, running out of juice maybe but, i am still cooking and baking.  

I love making sweet breads and when we were in Cancun, Mexico, i saw these attractive bread selling in all the bakeries there and had to look for the recipe.  This attractive bread is Conchas, they are Mexican shell-shaped pastries.  The lightly sweet bread has a sugar-shell pattern on top.  “Conchas” have existed since the early 1930s as it was cited in print in Texas newspapers, so we don't have to go to Mexico to enjoy these bread, just go to TEXAS, but TEXAS is 14 - 18 hours away, so i have to make some and i did.  I made them with this sweet bread recipe which have never failed to produce the best sweet bread ever.  This recipe has been passed on to all my friends and they all loved it, it has now been like a song lyrics to me when anyone wants the recipe.  

Loh See Fun From Scratch

This has been my quest, to make loh see fun from scratch.  Many hours have been spent trying to get the right texture - one that is chewy, slippery and firm to the tooth without using any chemicals.  Getting the texture  to what i wanted it to be was not that difficult as i know that with a ratio of 3 : 1,  - 3 of rice flour and 1 of tapioca starch should be correct.  How much of liquid is the difficult part of the whole process as the dough has to be of the correct consistency to be able to press out of the cendol press or a potato riser with ease.  Looking for  the utensil with the correct size holes has been a long search, until today, am not able to find any..  I have tried using a large perforated ladle and even found a perforated flat plate which i thought would be it.  No, they were  not, the holes were too big and a good practice of how to push the dough through these holes was needed.  What a mess i made??????

The final play was the return of the cendol maker and it did make loh see fun with pointed tails.  What actually happened was, i have learned to recognized the consistency of the dough - water should be added in, a little at a time so the the dough turned into whipped cream/ or buttercream like, then it will be pushed out of the cendal maker with ease.

I have tried with 2 types of rice flour,  one is the Erawan 3 elephant rice flour from Thailand and the other is a rough textured rice flour from Vietnam.  Both of them make pretty good textured loh see fun, only the rice flour from thailand needed to be dry steamed for an hour before using while the rice flour from Vietnam, i used it straight from the packet.

Sharon and Sandra's Birthday Cake

Besides making Mooncakes for the Mid-autumn Festival which coincided with my daughter's birthdays, I have been busy making this cake for then.  Although my elder girl is in Malaysia and not able to taste the cake, my thoughts are with her during her birthday.  Sharon and Sandra, i hope this cake met both your satisfaction.  Happy Birthday to both of you.

Nasi Lemak with Apricot Sambal Ikan Bilis

The weather is much cooler nowadays especially in the mornings, I don't have to go out for my walks at 6.00 am , could do it at 7.30 am and still feel comfortable.  Then you know that summer is over and autumn is upon us soon.  This summer has been a busy and fruitful -'fruit full' it was, my neighbor's apricot tree was groaning with lush and the lush was on my side of the fence.  As i scamper back to my kitchen with my apricot loot, i was a-brimmed with plans.  There will be apricot jam, There will be pastries - made so many pastries and still have many more apricots sitting on the counter-top.  What i would like to share with you all, was so delicious and it amazed me too that it turned out so well.  I added the pitted apricots to the sambal and  The Sambal Ikan Bilis made with this apricot sambal was the most delicious tasting sambal ever, it tasted fruity.  

Mini Shanghai Mooncakes

The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar,  and it falls on September 30th this year (2012).  Although it is still about 1 1/2 months away, preparation for the making the mooncakes has to begin now especially if you are to make the Traditional Mooncakes - the syrup has to be cooked and kept until needed, in fact the longer it is allowed to settle, the better it is.  Most mooncakes bakers will cook the syrup last year for this year's baking.  If this syrup cooking is too tedious and intimidating, i am sharing this recipe which s full of the fragrance of butter and pure lotus paste/red bean paste and the best part, you don't need any mooncake molds.

I make mooncakes every year and somehow could never find time to post it in time for my readers who would like to try and have a hand in making some for the festival.  This year, i make sure that i will post first before i start getting into the actual baking and forget to post.  Sorry.................

Lego Pirates Of The Caribbean Cake -

It was my grandson Alexander's 7th birthday and the theme this year was Lego Pirates of the Caribbean.  Thank goodness they were pirates, i was so untidy and Jack Sparrow looked like he did not have a bath for a long long time.  It was fine with Black Beard as his beard covered up his dirty face.  Davy Jones was scary enough, his squid beard was more bushy to start with and some fell off.  

Opera Cake

I have always been fascinated about this cake - OPERA CAKE.  Fascination turned into Inspiration by looking at all the lovely pictures of this cake baked by so many.  At a glance of the ingredients, i can attest that it will be a very very rich delicious cake.  It is so rich that some said that it was served during the Intermission of Operas and it will help to keep spectators awake through the second half. It will not be so for those who cannot resist this decadent delight and have another helping, will stay alert from over indulgence.  I have found so many recipes but Joe Pastry's Opera Cake overwhelmed me with step-by-step instructions which was so clear and easy to follow.  Thank you, Joe Pastry for sharing.

This cake was made for a dear relative who turned 50 and being half a centenarian, deserve something special.