The Sugar Bar » alcohol

Red Champagne Lollipops

diva — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 16:27:00 +0000

When I was a kid, Chupa Chups lollipops were like crack for me (and I’m not saying a child on crack is the best thing, or actually legal but I’m just saying..). The banana chocolate combo was a little sickly but I totally heart-ed it. And the strawberry ones were always so satisfying. Then in high school, it was suddenly really cool and fashionable to have a lollipop in the mouth about 24/7. You didn’t really need to suck on it. Just have it there. Have it exist in your mouth = instant popularity. It doesn’t quite work that way now unfortunately. But lollipops sure do bring me lots of joy just looking at it or giving them away.

I meant to make lollipops along with champagne jam for Meeta’s Monthly Mingle but totally missed the deadline having had to deal with life and some lollipop failure last week. Meeta celebrated her 609th post (congratulations!) and 4 successful years of her blog with the very elegant and regal queen of wines – champagne. I was so psyched for this! When I saw her MM tweet, my online shopping for candy making stuff began and it was all quick quick chop chop efficiency. Sadly enough, I haven’t been that efficient in meeting the deadline.

Thankfully, Meeta’s been too kind to wait for my entry and so here’s my contribution. It also Easter break and time for Easter sweeties. All the more reason to try again in hopes that I can spread some sugary joy to others. My lollies weren’t perfect but they were lollipops nonetheless and still a great improvement from the ones before. Only one was quite as it was meant to be from the butterfly mold but I was elated enough that they were unmolding fine from having greased the molds very generously. Of course, simply greasing a baking parchment to form round lollipops is and would’ve been dead easy if I’d done that last week right from that start. Now why didn’t I do that last week to save me all the post-candymaking failure depression? Well, we live and learn. That seems to be my motto of late!

I couldn’t decide at first between my champagne jam or champagne lollipops since the latter is sorta a cheat, using champagne oil instead of the real bubbly to flavour the hard candy. I finally opted for the latter. The jam can wait when juicier summer berries start hitting the shops. She says. Let’s hope I stay true to my word and don’t get carried away by something else. I’m just too fickle.

Well, that’s it for now. I’m gonna sit back, relax, and nurse my sorethroat. In the meantime, these lollies are gonna make nice little Easter gifts! Happy Easter folks.

Red Champagne Lollipops
Recipe adapted from She Simmers’ recipe here

Generously grease with sunflower oil lollipop molds. If making round lollipops without molds, prepare baking parchment across flat surface or cookie tray, secure it down and grease with oil.

Combine sugar, light corn syrup and water in a heavy-based saucepan. Bring to the boil without stirring. Secure candy thermometer to the saucepan, making sure that the bulb of the thermometer doesn’t touch the base of the saucepan but is somewhere between the bottom of the saucepan and surface of the candy mixture so that temperature recorded is accurate.

Allow mixture to boil until it reaches 250-260d F. When it does so, carefully add a couple of drops of red food colouring. Gently swirl the saucepan to mix the colouring into the candy mixture. Do not use anything to mix it as the boiling action will allow for the colouring to mix through.

Continue to cook until mixture reaches 300d F.

Remove saucepan from heat and once the boiling action stops, add the champagne oil or any other flavour oils you are using and carefully stir through.

Pour syrup into prepared molds. The syrup will start to harden almost immediately so work quickly. Place lollipop sticks in the centre, pressing it into the middle of the hardening syrup. I add a little more candy syrup over it so that its securely fastened into the candy.

Leave to cool for 8-10mins. The lollipops should be ready to unmold by then. Allow to cool completely left standing in a glass, or put the sticks through a colander so that the candy does not touch any surfaces.

Under running tap water, rinse off excess grease and continue to let it dry off. Don’t attempt to wipe the surfaces with cloth or paper as that will leave unsightly marks.

Wrap lollipops with plastic wrappers, tie with ribbons and send them away as Easter gifts!

London BBC Good Food Show & Masterchef Live

diva — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:09:02 +0000

First, a big thank you to Forever Better, Míele’s PR Company, for inviting me to this event and another thank you to Cherry (she and Lauren liases with the invitees) who is the sweetest person ever. I’m glad I could make it down to the BBC Good Food Show this time round as I had deadlines to meet last year and missed out on all the great foodie shows and tastings. After Saturday, I’m tempted to book my tickets for the next Good Food Show in the Birmingham NEC come summer as that promises to be an even more taste-blowing event.

An experience never to be forgotten and one I’ll always remember by from the puddings we tasted, one of which I was unable to get a photograph of because my camera decided to give up on me shortly before we sampled it. [*I do apologise for that. If I'd been more prepared for low battery, I would have more pictures on of the other things I sampled and stalls visited] But I’ll get to the food we nommed on for lunch later.

There was much going on with the Masterchef Theatre, the Cookery Experience, the Invention Test and all the time, celeb chefs like James Martin, Michel Roux Jr, Theo Randall, etc. were bouncing back and forth between these shows. On the main stall floor, the famous Harumi Kurihara was giving live demonstrations; sushi academy masterclasses, kitchen knife skills by Marianne Lumb (who we bumped into in the ladies!!), sugar roses classes by Phil Usher, cupcakes classes by Squire’s Kitchen and even duck carving were amongst the activities or classes you could take part in. So much to see, so much to sample, so much to enjoy – it’s no wonder the BBC Good Food Show was spread over 3 days 13-15th November. As much as I enjoyed the whole day-out at the Olympia Grand Hall soaking up this splendid experience, I was sorry that there was too much to do within a single day and unfortunately missed quite a few exciting classes like the cupcake and sugar roses demos.

Nonetheless, I was thrilled to have seen the Masterchef hosts John Torode and Gregg Wallace. They are hilarious! So were the Plenty ladies Brenda and Audrey who were right mental! And the previous winners from Masterchef – Steve Groves (whom I adore to pieces) and Mat Follas were there at the Invention Test as judges. A surprise last contestant was James Martin, who appeared a few minutes late much to everyone’s delight. A giant roar from the audience, a squeal from both Anne of Anne’s Kitchen and Sunita of Sunita’s World, (and I’m so glad I finally got to meet these 2 gorgeous foodbloggers! A little starstruck but they were so sweet and easy-going) and an unashamed catcall from yours truly. What? That man’s so loveable and dishy, if a tad bit chubby.

Andi Peters interviewing Steve Groves & Mat Follas

Invention Test was a joy to watch and many of the contestants whipped up – in a stressful 30minutes – some very tasty looking dishes from prawn curry, to vietnamese-inspired pancake to a hearty penna pasta dish using the key ingredients given to them: prawns, pork, pears, etc. Anne, Sunita and I had cowardly turned down the invitation. Being stared at whilst cooking, cooking under a blinding spotlight, cooking against the clock and knowing that this is a competition would’ve gotten to me. Something bad would’ve happened – like setting my hair on fire, scalding everyone around me, chopping a finger off. It wouldn’t be pretty and the whole event might end with a heart attack and me being rushed to the hospital in a half-charred state. I don’t do well under pressure when it comes to the kitchen and small working spaces. But at the end of the show, Sunita was having regrets of not having accepted the challenge and blimey, do I adore her more for it! What a gutsy foodie! I shall need to learn to be more courageous like her.

Plenty ladies Brenda & Audrey having a laugh

As much as I had a great time with the Masterchef Invention Test, what totally made my day was wondering about all the stalls, especially the Great Taste Awards section. So let’s have a look at some of the stalls we visited. There were too many stalls to see, both on the ground level and the floor up. We certainly didn’t get to look at everything but what we did see, we liked very much!

Crabbies 4% alcohol Ginger Beer – this is great. Very crisp and refreshing. Perfect with a slice of lemon. You can find this in Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and even your local Wetherspoon’s most likely! These were going for 3 bottles for a fiver and The Angel in Islington will offer you it for nearly £3 a bottle. I’d definitely be getting this for summertime barbies and I’m tempted to get a bottle of this for ginger beer battered fish and chips. Savvy?

Rachel’s Organic Yoghurt – I’ve always try to keep a tub of Rachel’s Greek Yoghurt with Honey or the Rhubarb Yoghurt in my fridge as they taste so good, one of the creamiest low fat yoghurts available in shops and are a great way to jazz up a fruit medley pudding. The new toffee & milk chocolate flavours are great. Toffee is a real winner and doesn’t have that sickly weird colour that toffee “flavoured” yoghurts usually do. A hefty creamy white yoghurt, yum yum.

Tropical Sun’s plantain chips – my first time tasting plantain and I really liked them! Good crunch, looked like banana chips but without the sweetness of it. Very more-ish.

Kikkoman and some live cooking demos – available is Kikkoman’s range of sauces, soy sauces, marinades and a counter for demos. Unfortunately, we just missed it and didn’t get to taste any of the teriyaki chicken that were snapped up in a flash.

Laverstock Park Farm and their offerings of buffalo burgers, ice cream, mozzarella cheese and lagers – you can find most of their products in Waitrose and I’ll definitely be popping into my local Waitrose for the mozzarella made from water buffalo milk. The creamiest, softest and most delicate oozy mozzarella that still holds up well. The buffalo milk is supposed to make this mozzarello firmer but not too firm. I like this a lot! And you’ll be pleased to know that their products are free-range as their buffalos have had a great life grazing on open pastures except in the cold winter.

Eudoro’s porchetta, prosciutto and cheeses – quality meats here are food porn at its best. The cheeses are beautiful to look at and Anne had a taste of the gargonzola. I would’ve loved to takeaway a porchetta panini for dinner that night but somehow backed out. Why did I do such a silly thing?! Regrets.

Yum Yum Tree Fudge – beautiful handmade fudge from Suffolk made from British sugar in a wide range of creative flavours like chili chocolate, lime & coconut, cappucino, lavender, mint chocolate, lemon bon bon, raspberry, etc. Check out their website for more at www.yumyumtreefudge.com

Ethiopian Coffee Company – we didn’t get any coffee although I bet we needed it, surely. This stall smelt amazing.

There were too many stalls to visit in just a day and too much eating and gawking!

•••

Our Restaurant Experience lunch in tapas-sized portions. Restaurants at the show were the Blue Elephant, Roast, Café Spice Namaste, Launceston Place, Skylon, Boxwood Cafe, Theo Randall at The InteContinental, Min Jiang (a new comer to the GFS), Urban Caprice and the MasterChef Restaurant featuring dishes from winners Thomasina Miers, Steven Groves, James Nathan and Mat Follas.

Theo Randall at The InterContinental: Cape Sante – Panfried Scallops with Pancetta, Red Chili, Rocket & Lentils

The Masterchef Restaurant: Mat Follas’s Lavender Mousse with Hokey Pokey and Berry Sauce

The Masterchef Restaurant: James Nathan’s Chocolate & Orange Sponge Pudding

My Shopping Haul:

I love fudge. I think Sunita got 2 bags for her family. I got 1 for a lemon-fanatic friend who was visiting that evening and 3 for myself. Who’s greedy?

Yum Yum Tree Fudge: A medley of flavours – lavender, mint chocolate, lemon bon bon

Mr. Vikki’s Tomato & Nigella chutney, Plum-infused Sake, WARRE’s 10 year tawny Port, Fruits of the Forest Balsamic Glaze

WARRE’s port wine was very impressive, especially the 25 year aged vintage but going at £25 a pop, I wasn’t too eager to split with that kind of money despite the port being very rich, dark and smooth. Hey! It’s the recession. We gotta be wise about things like that, eh. I settled for the 10 year aged that was also very lovely but going for only a tenner! Whey. Talk about Diva doing bargain shopping.

At Apulia Blends stall, I was blown away by their selection of extra virgin olive oils, the apple balsamic vinegar and the fruity glazes. I do love a good balsamic vinegar but I’ve never ever bothered with balsamic glaze. A taste and I was sold. Tempt me with ideas of pouring these glazes on ice cream – I’m sold even more. This forest fruit one was going for £6.50 a bottle which in my opinion, is worth every penny. The shocking thing, however, was that I found the same bottle at the Shoreditch Food Hall just round the corner from my pad being sold for a quid cheaper. Who knew?

Really delicious apple balsamic vinegar at nearly £12/bottle

I’m a loyal customer of Japan Centre as they have the best and biggest range of Japanese groceries I could possibly ever need away from home. Part of the Oishi JAPAN exhibition by Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries participants, I was happy to find them plugging a good couple of bottles of sake amongst other kuramotos (sake makers). Tasted some very nice junmai daiginjo, a citrus flavoured sake, some sochu and this wonderful plum-infused sake I couldn’t resist. I love my sake warm and drinking it traditionally from those cute wooden square boxes is always a treat but this plum-infused baby was very lovely drunk cold.

And what about the chutney? There were many stalls selling chutney and it was hard to choose what to taste and where to taste but Mr Vikki’s caught out eye with their huge array of bottle reds (and I mean chutney, not wine). Arranged from the mildest to the hottest, we were glad we started at the bottom of the range in heat – Tomato & Nigella. I do love spicy chutneys but I’m not great at taking the heat as I dislike the tongue-numbing sensation after which always worries me that I’m losing my tastebuds! The guys at Mr Vikki’s were very friendly and my favourites were the Tomato & Nigella and Chili Jam. And to top it all, they were part of the Great Taste Awards section. Winners they are.

I had a great time with Sunita and Anne! The BBC Good Food Show totally made my weekend although I was so knackered after like never before. Took me all of Sunday to spring back to my normal self. I’ve also started writing down a few recipes I’ll be testing with the new ingredients I’ve got so do come visit again for more exciting posts! I have some sweets and main dishes up my sleeve in the coming weeks to come.

Hope everyone had a fab weekend. Have a good week ahead and only 11 days to London Food Blogger Connect!

Dark Chocolate Torte with Brandy Cream

diva — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 09:25:39 +0000

I promised a chocolate torte recipe and here it is! It’s an easy to remember recipe I picked out of a book whilst staying at the boyfriend’s house; a real gem of a recipe, this torte is extremely rich but light – the ultimate chocolate decadent indulgence. It’s got a lovely wrinkly top, is usually quite crumbly at the sides and I find it’s sunken shape simply adorable. When I took this out of the oven, I had to garner all my mental strength to block out the calorie warnings the better half of my psyche was sending out. Pffft. I am having cake today and nothing is going to stop me. Not even the morning-after guilt is going to deter my determination to eat a fat slice. TO SELF: I need that. And that’s that. No arguments.

There’s also the fact that I should really be unpacking and reorganizing my room. So baking is really procrastination in disguise. I made up for that with about 10 mins of taking out the collected rubbish in my bedroom. The bin bag was about the size of Santa’s xmas present sack (on a really busy day) dragged down three flights of stairs, through the living area, out the door, through the front porch past the main gate to the rubbish bins right at which the bag had finally decided to give way and exploded to reveal an embarrassing variety of things: old books, used tissues, an in-the-process-of-oxidization apple core, the odd broken trinket purchased years ago when I thought I was cool, a used ballpoint ben that had seen better days, etc. It wasn’t fun I can tell you, trying to clean up this explosion of mine. Talk about a blast from the past.

Now wouldn’t you say it’s all the more reason to have a nice sitdown out on the patio with the dogs, a cold glass of Pimm’s and a slice of cake?

This recipe, I must say is rather special to me. It was recently added to my collection of other simple, rustic, unpretentious cake recipes; it is also a pudding recipe that the boyfriend and I followed for a dinner we were supposed to cook for the -rents. Well, his parents. Baking highstrung and nervous is not pleasant but the end results, I can say, were pretty damn good. And although our main course didn’t go quite according to plan due to unforeseen circumstances, the pudding was spot on. I reckon on his part, it was a pretty amusing sight to watch me squirm, forget the sequence of events when it comes to whisking, turn sheet-white and have my tongue turn to stone upon the appearance of Parent A. Preparing the brandy cream was a little bit of challenge as I was so tempted to down the whole bottle for Dutch courage. Thankfully I did not and I survived the ‘ordeal’. I exaggerate, as is appropriate to my storytelling style. The dinner was very nice and pleasant, and pretty much ended on a dreamy chocolate-induced note. Whey!

I love chocolate and love it in all its many forms except for the unfortunate few: white chocolate, orange chocolate and chocolate ice cream. It’s not that I won’t eat them. I just prefer not to because I don’t 100% enjoy them as I do, say, with very dark chocolate, molten chocolate cakes, brownies, hot chocolates, etc. Chocolate torte, on the other hand, is top on my list of chocolate cakes. I just love the way it looks. It makes me think of everything homemade, natural, gatherings with friends, the childhood favourites we always come back to like barley sugar, popcorn and TV dinners but with posh candles, grandmothers, my lovely cocker spaniel who looks a little rough-around-the-edges kind of dishevelled. Besides, tortes are made with just butter, eggs, brown sugar and chocolate. It’s really a recipe for chocaholics that does not deviate at all from the VIP ingredient – CHOCOLATE! For me, this is the LBD of all cakes. You can dress it down or jazz it up. Either way, it’s still superdeeduper good and you can’t fault it for its classic simplicity and elegance.

I used to be a big fan of Devils’ Food Cake. I am a torte convert now. And I’m glad to share this recipe with y’all since it not only makes me reach chocolate high in 2 seconds flat, it has given me quite a few interesting memories and a wonderful opportunity to boss a special someone around the kitchen.

So…what’s your favourite chocolate sweet then? Mudpie? The notorious gooey brownie? Molten chocolate puds? Would love to hear what you’ve gotta say and if anyone else shares the same passion for tortes.

I could stay and talk but I’ve got a chicken that needs to be roasted before Mum gets home and if that bird ain’t golden brown and glossy with a honey lemon glaze by the time she’s back from the hairdressers, I might be in some trouble. So laters, I gotta go get roasting.

Dark Chocolate Torte with Brandy Cream
Ingredients

Grease and line a springform pan.
Preheat oven to 160d Celsius.

Separate the eggs, placing the egg yolks in a larger bowl than the egg whites. Set aside.

In a glass bowl over a bain-marie, gently melt the dark chocolate and butter. Stir at regular intervals to ensure that all the pieces are melted. Stir in the vanilla. Remove from heat and set aside to cool to room temperature.

Whisk the egg yolks with 100g sugar for about 3-4 minutes until the mixture leaves a trail when whisk is lifted. The yolks should have become thick, doubled in amount and turned a light lemon yellowy colour. Fold in the chocolate mixture.

In a separate clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until peaking. Gradually whisk in remaining 25g sugar. Then, fold a quarter of the whites into the chocolate yolk mixture to lighten it. Finally, fold in the remaining whites until just incorporated. Be careful not to overmix.

Pour into the prepared springform pan and place in preheated oven to bake for 30 minutes.

When done, remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack in the springform pan til it is cool enough to handle. Remove from pan and let cool on a cool cake stand. I prefer not to let the torte cool directly on a wire rack as it is often too delicate and crumbly.

Some prefer to have their tortes cooled in the fridge so it becomes firmer and fudge-like. I like to serve mine immediately or have it warmed in the microwave for about 10 seconds before topping with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

For the brandy cream:

I do not follow a recipe when it comes to brandy cream. I simply pour some double cream and a few tablespoons of brandy to my taste into a bowl. Whip whip whip. And serve.

Because my kitchen was boiling hot in this tropical heat, my cream melted fairly quick but nothing could take away the gorgeousness of this brandy-tasting cream. Melted or no, heavenly.

Ochazuke (お茶漬け), topped with Sesame Seeds & Nori, and Yakitori (焼き鳥やきとり)

diva — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 14:44:23 +0000

Ever since I was able to begin helping my mother in the kitchen, rather than simply prancing around in a frilly apron and getting to lick the spoon, I was taught that the preparation of a dish was more about what it did for the person eating it than the effort and thought that went into preparing it. Of course dishes have their own significance, whether it is for festive reasons or for chasing away bad luck for the new year. But, with my Chinese background, it has come to my understanding that every dish is created for the person eating it for a particular reason – to bring happiness, to clear excess air, to cleanse the system after festive eating, to improve blood circulation, to bring radiance to the skin and brightness to the eye, etc. Eating isn’t great because it’s necessary for survival. It isn’t amazing because it’s just scrumptious. It’s marvellous because it’s so clever.

Nothing goes into a dish for no reason. And so, with this mentality in mind, I whipped this up for lunch. After weeks of poor nutrition and sloppy eating, I wanted to make something that would fill me up, be healthy enough, have sufficient amount of protein and vitamins in it, cleanse and cut through all that grease in my system and have a comforting warm broth to chase away the wintry cold. Ochazuke is usually made with leftover rice, just like chahan or egg fried rice. Nothing goes to waste in winter! Get a bowl of rice, top it with whatever you fancy and pour hot green tea over it. Delicious and ready in a flash. Not to forget, it’s good for you. Genius, isn’t it?

Although this dish is very simple, I hear what makes it so good is using good quality ingredients for toppings. I think my efforts came to a B+, good enough for me really! What would make it so much better would be a couple more exciting toppings like umeboshi and some furikake. Despite that, my ochazuke was still utterly comforting and healing. Delicately flavoured and very visually appealing in my opinion. When I make this again, I hope to use grilled eel for the topping as I bet that would make the broth taste insanely good! If you’re wondering what sort of green tea I’ve used, it’s a 旨み濃いめ緑茶: a blend of sencha (煎茶), karigane (かりがね) and matcha (抹茶).

This recipe is good for 1. I highly recommend not being lazy and warming your bowl in the oven before serving, as this makes eating it twice as good!

Ochazuke (お茶漬け)
Ingredients

Wash rice. Soak the rice in water for 20 minutes. Wash and drain. Rinse well. Add rice to the prepared water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Then cover and let simmer for 10 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed. Remove from heat and let sit covered for 25 minutes.

Once ready to serve, prepare the green tea of choice. Remember not to use boiling water. Follow the instructions on the packet. Transfer rice to a deep bowl. Top the rice with sesame seeds and seaweed. You can vary your toppings. I’ve kept it simple, clean and easy. Place prepared meat on top and sprinkle with salt. Pour the hot tea over the meat, until it just covers the rice. Serve.

Yakitori (焼き鳥やきとり)
Ingredients

Some recipes have you mix the ingredients together to form a sauce and then boil it so it thickens. You can get yakitori sauce in a bottle as well. But I’ve decided to go for just basting the chicken as it is with a thin sauce since this will go with the ochazuke rather than plain white rice. I didn’t want it to get really saucy and messy since the whole point of the dish is something tasty but clean. I didn’t want the sauce to affect the broth of the ochazuke.

Chop up the spring onions into 1.5 inches long, keeping the white bit from above the roots to about halfway up the green leaves. I find this bit to be the most flavourful. Chop up the chicken into nice bite sizes. Alternating chicken meat with spring onion, skewer them.

Set the grill to about 190d Celsius. Brush and drizzle the prepared yakitori sauce over the skewers and place under the grill. Brush on the sauce every 3 minutes or so. Once the top side is nicely brown, flip over the skewers and baste with the sauce. Repeat the basting process until the skewered meat is cooked through and the chicken is nicely brown. This should take about 20-25 minutes to cook. If you prefer not to cook them under a grill, cooking them over a bbq should be pretty good too.

Pan-Seared Pork Steak with Apple & Pecan Risotto

diva — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 18:27:16 +0000

Earlier this week, one of my mates said to me, “I’ve just realized how funny you are. Every damn thing you say is Facebook quote-worthy.”

Obviously flattered, the topic of the worthiness of my witty banter soon passed and things got right down and dirty – the topic of food, chocolate, Sunday roast and Christmas mince pies. Indeed, I am often less bothered about what I say really than the yummy concoctions I put in my mouth. I mean, I get totally psyched about that!

One good thing about my pals and I are that we are easily teased by food. Apart from friendship, this is the strong bond that brings us lot together. Think of us as a Knighthood of Glorified & Appreciative Eaters, if you like. So anyway, everyone got properly jittery when Starbucks released their Christmas red cups, considering the fact that among us we have people who have either worked/works at Starbucks and/or are just generally unadulterated Starbucks junkies (and unafraid to admit that we are). So, still satiated and buzzing from an afternoon Christmas special drink (with the roof of my mouth tingling a little from burning it on a dark cherry mocha), feeling nice and toasty in my new slipper socks as my room is slowly infused with the scent of burning mulled wine candles, I plot my Sunday lunch.

And blimey, was this Sunday lunch very brilliant on the flavours! Just last week, I’d popped two beautiful pork steaks into the freezer in an effort to save them for a time when I was better prepared ingredient and energy wise. Today was just the perfect day for tasty steaks and what better to pair pork than with apples? The advent of winter also means making use of wintry flavours in fruit and nuts. Instead of chomping on that next bar of Aero chocolate, I was beyond delighted to deck myself in my black sugarbar apron and get working within the comforts of a heated home on a hearty meal.

I found an interesting recipe on goodtoknow.co.uk incorporating Chinese ingredients for a pork marinade. I was a little worried on how that might work with a fruit risotto but my fears were put to rest once I put a fork of meat to mouth. The flavours were gorgeous! Chinese 5 spice and the garlic was just wonderful, making the meat so juicy and succulent with a nice lacing of oriental sweetness. I adore this marinade and highly recommend it. In fact, I’m hoping to use this recipe again next week for another friend of mine, in hopes of wowing his socks off and showing him what a stunning cook I am. Actually, it’s also because I owe him a meal after he whipped me up some amazing chicken fajitas about 2 weeks ago. This man, I swear, is some sort of god of fajitas.

The apple risotto too was quite amazing. Word of advice, don’t pick sweet apples such as Royal Gala or Pink Lady. As much as these apples are tasty and beautiful to look at, I find that choosing a rather tart apple like Braeburn or maybe even a Cox just perfect, especially since it’ll go well with a dash of white wine.

This recipe serves 2.

Pan-Seared Pork Steak on Apple & Pecan Risotto
Ingredients

In a small bowl, mix together ingredients for the marinade. Place pork steaks in a large plate and pour marinade over the tops of the steaks. Rub gently into the steaks, flip over and cover the clean sides with marinade. Make sure to pat the chopped ginger in the marinade onto the steaks. Cover plate tightly with clingwrap and let sit in the refrigerator overnight or for at least an hour.

For the risotto, make sure you start on it about 10-15minutes before pan-searing the steaks as this will take about 5-7minutes to cook completely.
Heat the butter in a saucepan. Add the risotto rice and fry for about 2 minutes. Add the shallots and fry a little longer. Ladle about 2 ladles of vegetable stock into the saucepan, lower heat and let simmer. The arborio rice will slowly absorb the liquids in and be careful to only add a ladle of stock each time, stirring now and again as the rice cooks – you can add liquid to risotto but not take it out!
When all the liquid is nearly absorbed, add another ladle and continue this cooking process. This will take about 10-15minutes to cook. Once the risotto rice is cooked through, add the white wine and stir. Once the consistency of the risotto has reached the desired thickness, remove from heat and add 1/2 the prepared grated parmesan, thyme, apples and pecan. Stir with a quick and firm hand until all the ingredients have just come together.
Add the rest of the grated parmesan, saving a tiny bit for sprinkling over the tops. Season with black pepper if needed.

For the pork steaks, preheat the oven to 200d Celsius and prepare a hot frying pan. The pan has got to be very hot but not overly hot. Grease lightly with cooking spray. Remove steaks from refrigerator.
Place steaks on hot frying pan and let sear for about 7 seconds (you will have to judge this by eye). With a pair of tongs or a spatula, flip the steaks quickly to sear the other side for another 7 seconds. Now remove and place on a grill, then slide into the oven to cook for about 5 minutes. Once cooked, serve quick on a bed of apple & pecan risotto with a sprinkle of grated parmesan.

Turning 21 by the Wharf

diva — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 09:53:07 +0000

Me: You only turn 21 once.
D.: No. YOU’ve turned 21 three times. That’s mental!

I’ve turned 21 three times now: a pre-birthday bash, the official birthday, and a belated birthday. Can safely say I’m very fortunate, very loved and very honoured. Multiple celebrations are way too cool and have imprinted my 21st very deeply in my memory now.

I’d like to thank all my mates for all the effort (time and money) they’ve put in, Ted Baker, my liver and Birmingham’s good side. I think some tried really hard to make me forget about personal troubles. A home-baked chocolate cake, party hats, giant balloons in your face, and shiny birthday banners — the perfect cure to anything!

As our tastebuds were getting a little bored from the usual Italian fare, The Oriental was the restaurant of choice for the night. Situated by the wharf in The Mailbox, it was quite decadently decorated with a great ambience and very kind and attentive staff. We probably went a little too far with the starters and very many bottles of wine, such that the main course was a bit of a challenge when they were finally set down on the table. Our table was very taken with the wonderful menu. Spoilt for choice. I highly recommend going onto their website first if you intend to pop in for a visit as it is so extensive and varied over Thai, Malay and Chinese cuisine, you won’t be able to figure out what you want only after about 30minutes I reckon!

Not to worry, however, since major drool-age pushed us into ordering quicker than you can say ‘quick’. I was so hungry at that point my ribs were hurting. Not to mention I had been battered the night before, my feet were aching, my knee was scabby from falling over because of my new ALDO heels. What else? None of us had really eaten all day. Wonderful! Peking duck pancakes, a Thai platter of starters, wine and a Singapore Sling. Then, plates of Cointreau Flambéd Red Snapper arrived, a Sweet Orange Duck, Pork with Ginger & Spring Onion, Sweet & Sour Chicken, not forgetting some noodles and the ever-lovable egg fried rice.

By the end of the meal, I was zinging with joy – never feeling so happy and relaxed. Despite all that food I’d eaten, I was literally bouncing off the ground with each step. Walking down the canal towards Brindleyplace to meet the rest of the gang for drinks, I suppose we were the loudest, jolliest and craziest group of people. Next thing we know, Steph’s practically ordering us to pull a Thriller pose in front of some random Thriller posters. No problem there, as you can see.

Last stop, Brindleyplace. Got into Pitcher & Piano without an ID. How? you ask. Simply flashed my ’21′ badge after my mate had explained it was my party and got an ‘ok’ and a smile from the burly bouncer. Everyone’s awfully nice and understanding when you’re 21. Geee. I think everyone in the bar was tolerating these crazy yellow balloons as well. It was hilarious.

Great banter. Many rounds of gin & tonic, B55 and Screaming Orgasms (a chocolate alcoholic cocktail) and the night rounded up very pleasantly. Woke up the next morning, surprisingly, with not the faintest throb of a headache! But feeling knackered, Steph and I pulled through and trudged to uni to spend 4 hours in the library slogging hard at a desk. The magic of the night had worn off a little but with the massive number of photos we’d taken that night on 2 cameras, I’m relieved to know it’s all preserved in them. Best night of my life.

Vegetarian Yakisoba with Ebi Sakamushi

diva — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:02:44 +0000

Although it’s technically our summer holiday, I’ve been busy. And no, it isn’t just socializing. It’s about packing, buying presents, shopping for themed party costumes, sorting out next year’s rent and planning moving logistics. It’s slightly crazy and ‘eating’ away at my time for cooking and baking. But then again, I did spend the whole of last week FEASTING. And by feasting I really mean gorging myself on bbq after bbq, pizza express, Strada at The Mailbox, loads of gelati from Morelli’s, that kinda thing. Unfortunately, all that fantastic indulgence has resulted in a pot belly and a lack of posts on my blog.

Due to the parties and other preoccupations such as learning to deejay from Alex (as if I really did learn), nearly crashing his Ferrari laptop, sunbathing, playing pseudo volleyball,etc. I have not been catching up enough with the food blogosphere. Lots of catching up to do indeed.

I have received a couple of emails about the Beauty and the Feast. Again, thank you all who participated. I’ll think about whether I’ll continue the challenge. I’m not too sure about it as it was pretty much a once-off thing. Let me know what you think and I’ll see how it goes, depending on the response.

Trying to do quickcook meals is the new cool and highly essential when you can hardly find time to sleep and housekeep because of a busy schedule. So here’s a post dedicated to Japan’s fast food! At least I think it is since I used to see boxes of yakisoba loads at train stations for quick takeaways and in my mind, that’s definitely ‘fast’ food.
I love yakisoba. Tasty and really quick to make. The sauce is really the essential bit that marries everything together. If I’m not wrong, yakisoba sauce is quite easy to find pre-made in bottles. I looked through some recipes online for yakisoba sauce and they required oyster sauce which gives fantastic flavour. I’m sure you can find vegetarian oyster sauces made with, what was it, mushrooms? But I’m not too sure if it’ll taste exactly the same as the real thing. Doubt it. I’ve chose to go for a vegetarian yakisoba sauce, not because I’m iffy with oyster sauce. I love it! But I don’t have any in my pantry. I haven’t really tried to make traditional yakisoba by using all the right ingredients but have instead thrown it all together with what I have lying around and that’s bordering on rotten.

Don’t be put off by the name ebi sakamushi either. It is so simple and flavourful and hardly requires any thinking. It is basically sake-steamed prawns. You can use drinking or cooking sake. Either way it gives off a lovely smell and infuses the prawns in a sweetness, enhancing its naturally sweet flesh with tinges of malty rice flavour as well. I really like this and makes a great appetizer too. I placed the prawns in paper nut cups and popped them into a bamboo steamer which made them easy to serve out onto individual plates. This also helped the prawns to cook in their own juice without the sake flowing away.

Here’s a recipe that yields 2-3 servings.

Vegetarian Yakisoba with Ebi Sakamushi
Ingredients

For the vegetarian yakisoba sauce:

For ebi sakamushi:

To prepare the sauce first, whisk all ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.

Now cook the noodles in hot water. Once cooked, run under cold water and set aside. You can leave them soaked in cold water to prevent them from sticking.

Heat some oil in a large frying pan. Golden brown the onions, then add all the vegetables and stirfry. Next, add the soba noodles and the yakisoba sauce. Fry until all the sauce has been absorbed into the noodles. It might get a little sticky due to the sugar caramelizing but that’s fine. If you prefer not to have your noodles uber sauced-up, you can use about 2/3 of the prepared sauce and fry on high heat.

For the ebi sakamushi, simply place prawns in nut cups and pour the sake over the prawns into the cup. Steam until prawns are cooked through and bright pink.

Serve noodles with sesame seeds, gari pickles (optional) and the prawns on the side.

B55 – The Green Fairy in a Shotglass.

diva — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:29:25 +0000

Ah, the ‘green fairy’. Our legendary drink. A double-edged sword that triggers both gaiety and melancholy.

There’s always been so much talk about this once elusive and yet not difficult to procure spirit, especially if you think along the lines of its debatable hallucinogenic properties. Now that it has become popular once again (and relatively easier to source) in Europe and throughout the rest of the world, it’s not difficult to trace its history and connections with many past intellectuals and writers – among them one of the writers I’d like to think I’d get along pretty well with, Oscar Wilde.

At the beginning of the 19th century, absinthe was labelled a working class drink and was easily one of the cheapest spirits available to the despairing and the poor. Edgar Degas’s Absinthe depicts the drunkard and the prostitute as key exploiters of modern consumption and places them aptly within the modern space for consumption — the bar, where an easy outlet of release lies in the tempting green arms of the absinthe drink. Apart from its association with such underground figures and its worrying harmful side effects, absinthe became less the powerful drink that represented escapism and despondency and more the symbol of a degenerate society spawned from modernity itself.

‘the perfect example of Second Empire capitalism, a mass-produced, commercial, and rather fraudulent concoction taken over from le peuple, creating money for its suppliers and for café proprietors’ – Herbert, 1988

From the mid-19th century onwards, absinthe became the fashionable aperitif and the drink of choice amongst the bourgeoisie. A whole hour, known as the Green Hour, was even dedicated to it. Furthermore, absinthe was appearing often in the paintings of Manet and Van Gogh. Artists and poets were consuming it in large quantities as well. No surprise why the age of decadence was later criticized, paid tribute to and immortalized by many decadent poets.

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If you have yet to hear of the B55 shot, you might be familiar still with its cousin the B52 shot.

B55
Ingredients

If you’re not too skilled in preparing layered shots, pour the spirit onto a slanted spoon into the shotglass slowly so as to keep the layers neat.
Begin with kahlua at the bottom, followed by the Baileys and lastly the lovely green absinthe.

B52
Ingredients

Similar preparation: Kahlua at bottom, Baileys in the middle and topped off with Grand Marnier.

Personally I prefer the B55. It has a nicer finish. Contrary to popular belief, good absinthe isn’t bitter at all. This shot, combined with the milky richness of the Baileys, with its flavours deepened with kahlua, will leave you with a delightful tasty trail of absinthe at the end, tantalizing you with its distinctive refreshing, almost herby taste. And although common absinthe is bottled at about 55% alcohol, a B55 shot will not leave you hallucinating or off your face at any one point (unless you have a crazy boat of 9 shots or more).

Absinthe connoisseurs can stick to the traditional way of enjoying absinthe neat or louched with water, with a sugar cube or no. The radicals can set it alight and the modern creative souls out there can enjoy them in layered shots, ice cream sundaes and cupcakes, etc.

However, with freedom comes restraint (as so we learn from Julius Caesar). Therefore, remember moderation is the keyword here.