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Sunday, August 26, 2012

Hello All!

It has been such a wonderful week and it just keeps getting better. I got some good news! But I can't share it with you yet, I need to start doing some work first. Anyways, getting back on topic. I cook dinner for a few friends of mine from church on Saturday. It was so last minute and was too close to my birthday, I felt very drainned and didn't want to even lift a fork up but I some how summoned up the motivation to cook up a storm. First was the Apple cheddar soup.

The soup itself consist of granny smith apples and to be honest, I was scared that it would be way too sour for my guests' liking. But after adding the half and half, flour and cheddar cheese, the balance was just perfect and very enjoyable.

The jerk chicken was just not on point for me, it lacked the spicy flavouring that I was hunting for. It was okay but just wasn't WOW kinda dish. I paired it with Jamie's mash potatoes followed by a fresh spring mixed salad. Hopefully that saved the day a bit.

The dessert was the real winner here in my opinion. Whenever my friends see this dessert set on the table, first reaction is always "Wow, whats that?! Are you sure we can finish this?" And to my experience, we always finish it. It's never really a problem with any dessert I make honestly, except for that one time when I made a cheesecake and it tasted "salty." Oh well, I will update the ingredients in a bit.

Cheers Mate!

Apple Cheddar Soup

Jerk Merinated Roast Chicken

Ultimate Fruit Meringue


My number one fan =)

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Hello!

Quarter-century and still breathing! How awesome is that? Haha. Of course, for my big day I had to bake my own birthday cake. Althought I failed baking this before, I was confident that I could ace it this time around. I baked a Cotton Soft Japanese Cheesecake.

Heres what you need:
- 140g fine granulated sugar
- 6 egg whites
- 6 egg yolks
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 50g butter
- 250g cream cheese
- 100ml fresh milk
- 60g cake flour (can also use plain flour)
- 20g corn flour
- 1/4 tsp salt


The secret to making a consistent cake was actually in the meringue and the cake flour. This time, I whipped my meringue until it was a bit stiff and used cake self raising flour instead of all-purpose. This made a huge difference because, obviously, it helped raise cake and the meringue acted like a skeletal structure it help hold it up. The result? It was amazing, piece after piece I wanted more but I was serving for 10+ people and they all wanted seconds. Next time around, I will try adding some sort of frosting onto since it really did look very plain and simple. I guess some fruits would have been nice.

Aside from that, my day consist of morning baking, then some interested encounters at dim sum. We saw two elders stacking up the dim sum in take out boxes. I wonder what they are going to do with all the dim sum take outs. Maybe they live in a seniors home? I am not too sure but it was quite a site. Then I hit the range with the lovely Zoe and hit a few on the green. I didn't do so well but she was quite a natural. Finishing off the evening was a night at Rodney's by bay. I had so many oysters and even had one that was still moving! Yuck. It was all good. Had a nice time and will continue keep you guys posted on my upcoming dinner!

Cheers! 






At midnight, the old man and I at Boston.



Finally you are mine!
Drinks with my pubisher and CEO

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Hello All!!

Boy, it was a crazy celebration but I made it and now its all over. =( On tuesday, my old man cooked up a storm in our small kitchen and he came up with a lot of interesting foods. I still have to chase him down and ask him for each of the names but for now you can enjoy the eye candies.

I gather all the family and relatives that were free Tuesday August 21 2012 and made a special request; that was to dress nicely for a nice dinner. Of course, I wanted to make this a big deal and told my little ones to dress up fancier than others. To my surprise, they came with ties, dress shirts and vests. I was very happy with the results and could tnot imgaine the amount of respect I got for my quarter century.

Back on topic, the food was exquisite! All my favourite dishes were there, roast beef, LOBSTER!, chicken, smoked salmon, SEA BASS and pasta. The best was the steam lobster with vemicelli, I can never get enough of it.

For dessert, we had the traditional sponge fruit cake and a fruit meringue; old man style.

The next day, I walked into work and bumped into a lot of "Daniels". My co-workers decided to make a "Daniel Day" and took on my habits ie eating corn in the morning, bringing steammed rice with meat. They dress up like me by wearing bright coloured polos, tight pants, funky glasses and converse. This was a really nice gesture and something that has never been done before at the office. I was very touched and almost died laughing. A friend of mine never wears polos and he wore a BRIGHT cyan American Eagle Polo that he bought from value village. I love my coworkers. =)

There was so much love building up to my birthday, check my next post!