Food Galore

Quelles couleurs!

Had a party last night... geat company and good food, what better way to spend a Saturday evening? The centre piece was a huge platter of maki. For me, the simple and elegant shitake maki took the prize - it is just amazing how a lone chunk of juicy marinated shitake can infuse so much flavour... less is indeed more. The spicy tuna ones with that subtle hint of nutty sesame came in a close second.

Fried Tang Hoon (Fried Glass Noodles) - A No-Brainer

Such a versatile dish, much like fried rice. Throw in anything you fancy or leftovers (zuchini, onions, roast pork and eggs in the above case) with lots of garlic, a good amount of fish sauce, and a tiny bit of tamarind, sugar and tomato ketchup for balance. Voila... a complete meal in itself. So simple and yet so good...



On a different note, why are my photos so dark? It seems bright enough by the window on a sunny day, yet... Any advice, anyone?

The Beauty Of Very Ordinary Things

My First Char Siew Ever

Now doesn't that look good? The idea of making Char Siew at home has always been intimidating... getting that perfectly charred surface while maintaining a moist and juicy interior is quite an art.

I pulled a recipe off one of the food blogs that I frequent. The Char Siew was flavourful but needed a tad more sugar. It also needed to be more charred (I didn't char it sufficiently this time for fear of drying out the meat).

It is wonderful with steaming hot fragrant rice.

Oh-So-Good Beer Bread

I finally got new lenses for close-up shots, yay! I am testing it out on this freshly baked super yummy beer bread with dried figs. It is best served warm with a thick spread of salted butter and a huge dollop of chunky apricot jam. I have to add that this bread goes really well with cheese too - crusty on the outside, soft inside and that subtle hint of Hoegaarden beer... heavenly.

Fondant a la Creme de Marrons

I had a gorgeous chestnut cake in Belgium last weekend and was hooked. It was dense and had a very chestnutty and buttery flavour. I tried to reproduce it today with creme de marrons. It tasted OK but was so light that it broke when I removed it from the baking pan. I very much prefer something denser. Not whipping the egg whites and increasing the amount of creme de marrons to 500g may do the trick.

Fondant a la Creme de Marrons

350g creme de marrons (sweetened)

25g melted butter

3 eggs, separated

0.5 tsp vanilla extract

1 Tbsp self raising flour

Mix together the creme de marrons, butter, egg yolks and vanilla extract. Stir in the flour. Beat egg whites till stiff and incorporate it into the batter. Bake in a non-stick pan at 180 degC for 30 minutes.

Camera Test

I tried out my camera last week. What do you think of the photos? I think I will have to go get myself one of those lenses for taking close-up shots.