Dame of Shocolatte

Cooking French

2006-10-28T08:09:00.000-07:00

There he was chatting with two ladies as I stepped in.

Francois Mermilliod, Executive Chef at fine dining outlet Flutes at the Fort, was the guest chef for my first attempt at the classic french cuisine at Palate Sensations. The owner of the cooking school, the petite yet gung-ho Lynette, was hospitable and chatty. It turned out I was the second to arrive. Another student Doreen had arrived early and was easing herself into cool beats of the music and the comfortable lounge. We hit if off immediately, rattling off about work to travel to bosses to food. Lynette had come around to serve us some white wine, which was a pleasant surprise but a real delight. More people had turned up in the next 10 minutes and we decided we could start.

We were divided into three groups, with three seperate tables. I thought the island tables were cool, as they could be moved around in any formation and doubled up as the chopping board and a good surface for rolling the dough as I discovered later. There was Doreen who works in the banking industry and Marlene the sociologist in the army and a mother of three. Joanne and Yen joined our team later. One thing for sure, all of us who congregated at this class loves good food, maybe good wine, good company and cooking.

And the recipes of the day :

1. Quiche Lorraine
2. Bouillabaisse
3. Creme Brulee

It was unmistakenly a FRENCH cookout.

Don't we all have this romantic idea about the french - their culture, food and people. Francois is french and speaks with an accent which adds to his charm after a while. We started off with the creme brulee as it required time for the oven and also for the tuile (the actual definition was thin almond biscuit) to set for some time before it goes into the oven. It was rather disorganised at first as not all utensils were on our tables. We had to go around borrowing and asking for cutlery and ingredients (well it would be a perfect chance for a guy to approach a sweet young thing for sugar or vice versa) but it was good fun watching what others were doing abiet our own mess and actions. The process of making the creme brulee was interesting. I learnt that the creme had to be in bain marie (the ramekins soaked in a water bath in the baking tray) and found the silicon mat which we created our blobs of tuile on fascinating. When cooled from the oven heat, the tuiles came off from the mat and we could roll them into any shapes using whatever tools available around us. It served as a side decoration for the classic french dessert.

Next we moved on to make the bouillabaisse. I realise most of us were excited about the classic fish soup as we probably had tried it in restaurants and wondered how the rich texture of this flavourful soup could be achieved in the kitchen. Francois explained that we do not have the same source of seafood as in france and he could not find crabs today, hence the version we were making was a modifed version. An important point to note was that we should choose the boney parts of the fish to make the stock. We replaced crab with prawns instead. The initial steps were easy. It involved chopping the various kinds of vegetables, throw them in with the fish and prawn shells and sautee for a few minutes, followed by the herbs. It was also the first time i saw and used saffron in cooking. Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus), a species of crocus in the family Iridaceae. The flower has three stigmas, which are the distal ends of the plant's carpels. Together with its style, the stalk connecting the stigmas to the rest of the plant, these components are often dried and used in cooking as a seasoning and colouring agent.

Francois came by to start spicingup each group's pot of soup with pepper and salt. As a chef, he is used to eyeballing the quantity. I could not resist asking for guidelines, like how much salt or how much pepper is needed. He looked at me straight in the face and casually answered that there was no need for guidelines. It really depended on what was the taste we were trying to achieve, it's got a lot to do with the feel. And know what, we girls being girls who mostly abide by the steps in the kitchen, started counting the number of tabs he made whenever he poured something from the spice container into whatever we were making. It really made him laugh.

After all that boiling, processing and adding in the seafood, the end result was a soup that was extremely balanced in texture, with a beautiful and distinct orange that appears in a successful pot of bouillabaisse.

It dawned on us we still have the final challenge - the quiche lorraine. we started with the short crust and then moved on to making the egg and bacon filling. Marlene was mortified that we had to make our own crust from scratch and innocently remarked that we could have gotten the pre-made frozen ones from the mart. 'Oh yah, and you could also have the ready ones from delifrance' said Francois. We all burst out laughing. It was the best joke from cet homme francais. I did not have much confidence handling the dough. We had to make sure it do not fall apart when rolling and that we had enough to pinch the overflow on the sides of the tart mould so as to prevent it from shrinking during baking. I think I did a rather marvelous job with the dough eventually. We were not quite involved in making the filling.

Then it was time to turn our attention to the baked tuiles and shaped them to our fancy. It was interesting seeing how Francois torched the sugar layer on the dessert as well.

As with any cooking lessons, the finale is probably what everyone looks forward to with much enthusiasm (some say saliva) - tasting their creations after all the hard work. We had some chilled red wine to go with our early dinner and exchanged comments from the appetiser to the dessert. We were also savvy enough to bring our cameras. Well, what does a food blogger do anyway?

The entire experience felt like relaxed weekend in outback Australia with good food, great people, stimulating conversations and guess what, nothing else mattered.

Palate Sensations
1 Westbourne Road,
#03-05 (entrance via Whitchurch Road, off Portsdown Road and opposite Col Bar)Aden, Singapore 138941
Tel: 64799025
Fax: 64796285
E-mail : info@palatesensations.com

Cooking French

2006-10-28T08:04:00.000-07:00

There he was chatting with two ladies as I stepped in.

Francois Mermilliod, Executive Chef at fine dining outlet Flutes at the Fort, was the guest chef for my first attempt at the classic french cuisine at Palate Sensations. The owner of the cooking school, the petite yet gung-ho Lynette, was hospitable and chatty. It turned out I was the second to arrive. Another student Doreen had arrived early and was easing herself into cool beats of the music and the comfortable lounge. We hit if off immediately, rattling off about work to travel to bosses to food. Lynette had come around to serve us some white wine, which was a pleasant surprise but a real delight. More people had turned up in the next 10 minutes and we decided we could start.

We were divided into three groups, with three seperate tables. I thought the island tables were cool, as they could be moved around in any formation and doubled up as the chopping board and a good surface for rolling the dough as I discovered later. There was Doreen who works in the banking industry and Marlene the sociologist in the army and a mother of three. Joanne and Yen joined our team later. One thing for sure, all of us who congregated at this class loves good food, maybe good wine, good company and cooking.

And the recipes of the day :

1. Quiche Lorraine
2. Bouillabaisse
3. Creme Brulee

It was unmistakenly a FRENCH cookout.

Don't we all have this romantic idea about the french - their culture, food and people. Francois is french and speaks with an accent which adds to his charm after a while. We started off with the creme brulee as it required time for the oven and also for the tuile (the actual definition was thin almond biscuit) to set for some time before it goes into the oven. It was rather disorganised at first as not all utensils were on our tables. We had to go around borrowing and asking for cutlery and ingredients (well it would be a perfect chance for a guy to approach a sweet young thing for sugar or vice versa) but it was good fun watching what others were doing abiet our own mess and actions. The process of making the creme brulee was interesting. I learnt that the creme had to be in bain marie (the ramekins soaked in a water bath in the baking tray) and found the silicon mat which we created our blobs of tuile on fascinating. When cooled from the oven heat, the tuiles came off from the mat and we could roll them into any shapes using whatever tools available around us. It served as a side decoration for the classic french dessert.

Next we moved on to make the bouillabaisse. I realise most of us were excited about the classic fish soup as we probably had tried it in restaurants and wondered how the rich texture of this flavourful soup could be achieved in the kitchen. Francois explained that we do not have the same source of seafood as in france and he could not find crabs today, hence the version we were making was a modifed version. An important point to note was that we should choose the boney parts of the fish to make the stock. We replaced crab with prawns instead. The initial steps were easy. It involved chopping the various kinds of vegetables, throw them in with the fish and prawn shells and sautee for a few minutes, followed by the herbs. It was also the first time i saw and used saffron in cooking. Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus), a species of crocus in the family Iridaceae. The flower has three stigmas, which are the distal ends of the plant's carpels. Together with its style, the stalk connecting the stigmas to the rest of the plant, these components are often dried and used in cooking as a seasoning and colouring agent.

Francois came by to start spicingup each group's pot of soup with pepper and salt. As a chef, he is used to eyeballing the quantity. I could not resist asking for guidelines, like how much salt or how much pepper is needed. He looked at me straight in the face and casually answered that there was no need for guidelines. It really depended on what was the taste we were trying to achieve, it's got a lot to do with the feel. And know what, we girls being girls who mostly abide by the steps in the kitchen, started counting the number of tabs he made whenever he poured something from the spice container into whatever we were making. It really made him laugh.

After all that boiling, processing and adding in the seafood, the end result was a soup that was extremely balanced in texture, with a beautiful and distinct orange that appears in a successful pot of bouillabaisse.

It dawned on us we still have the final challenge - the quiche lorraine. we started with the short crust and then moved on to making the egg and bacon filling. Marlene was mortified that we had to make our own crust from scratch and innocently remarked that we could have gotten the pre-made frozen ones from the mart. 'Oh yah, and you could also have the ready ones from delifrance' said Francois. We all burst out laughing. It was the best joke from cet homme francais. I did not have much confidence handling the dough. We had to make sure it do not fall apart when rolling and that we had enough to pinch the overflow on the sides of the tart mould so as to prevent it from shrinking during baking. I think I did a rather marvelous job with the dough eventually. We were not quite involved in making the filling.

Then it was time to turn our attention to the baked tuiles and shaped them to our fancy. It was interesting seeing how francois flamed the sugar on the dessert as well.

As with any cooking lessons, the finale is probably what everyone looks forward to with much enthusiasm (some say saliva) - tasting their creations after all the hard work. We had some chilled red wine to go with our early dinner and exchanged comments from the appetiser to the dessert. We were also savvy enough to bring our cameras. Well, what does a food blogger do anyway? ;P I had a great conversation with the group of four who came together. the guy sitting next to me said they met one another through sailing and that they have a sailing competition tomorrow at the changi beach club or something. There will be many ambassadors turning up for the event but they would not mind the french ambassador especially coz he would bring the french wine! We started talking my impending trip and tennis and he recommended I can try the shangrila if I still want to pick up tennis.

It felt like dinner in outback Australia with good food, great people, stimulating conversations and nothing else mattered.

Palate Sensations
1 Westbourne Road, #03-05
(entrance via Whitchurch Road,
off Portsdown Road and opposite Col Bar)
Aden, Singapore 138941
Tel: 64799025
Fax: 64796285
E-mail : info@palatesensations.com

Mexican Wedding Cakes

2006-08-20T03:21:00.000-07:00

I never know why these melt-in-your mouth snowballs are called Mexican Wedding Cakes, but they are certainly great for Christmas and Weddings.

Mexican Wedding Cakes
2/3 cup (65 grams) toasted nuts (pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts)
1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup (30 grams) confectioners' (powdered or icing) sugar
1 teaspoon (2 grams) pure vanilla extract
2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Topping:
1 cup (110 grams) powdered (icing or confectioners) sugar, sifted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
Toast Nuts: Place nuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 minutes, or until lightly brown and fragrant. Cool. Once the nuts have cooled completely place them, along with 2 tablespoons (25 grams) of the flour from the recipe, into your food processor, fitted with a metal blade, and process until they are finely ground (but not a paste). Set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the remaining flour and salt and beat until combined. Stir in the nuts. Cover and refrigerate the dough for about 1 hour or until firm.

Form the dough into 1 inch (2.54 cm) balls and place them 2 inches (5 cm) apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake for about 12 - 15 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies start to brown. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, line another baking pan or tray with parchment or wax paper. Sprinkle about 1/2 cup of the confectioners' sugar on the bottom of the pan and then place the slightly cooled cookies on top of the sugar. Place the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar in a fine strainer or sieve and then sprinkle the tops of the cookies (or you can just roll the cookies in the sugar).
Store in an airtight container. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

The Big Book of Baking

2006-05-22T07:57:00.000-07:00

This book needs no introduction.

Whenever I mention that I had just bought this big baking book, it would definitely evoke this response : Is it from Borders?

Gee.

After I laid my hands on this book, I could not wait to try the “Opening Recipe” (ala Opening Ceremony). My girlfriend Tiffany joined forces with me this round. Again, a whole Saturday afternoon was spent in the kitchen beating, mixing, folding, grounding…and finally, waiting. We tried our hands on the Pecan Crunch Cake and the Chocolate Almond Biscuits. The cake turned out really pretty and tasted somewhat like cinnamon cake or even the basic banana cake. I reckon the cinnamon would be cut down by half. The Chocolate Almond Biscuit was beautiful when sliced. However I was not impressed by the taste. Again, the taste of cinnamon overwhelmed and the almonds lost its crunch.

Well, now that we’ve officially opened the Big Book of Baking, there are always more recipes to try!

No Mess

2006-04-29T07:42:00.000-07:00

The next time you feel like making yourself useful in the kitchen without messing up, the chocolate marshmallow fingers could be the perfect solution. It is easy to make and everyone loves it.

The response from my colleagues was encouraging the last time I made it for them. For those of you who has asked me for the recipe, I am sorry it took me so long to put this up.

Enjoy your rendezvous avec chocolat!

Chocolate Marshmallow Fingers

350g digestive biscuits
125g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
225g butter
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp honey
55g marshmallows
100g white chocolate chips

Put the digestive biscuits into a polythene bag and, using a rolling pin, crush into small pieces.

Put the chocolate, butter, cocoa and honey in a saucepan and heat gently until melted. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.

Stir the crushed biscuits into the chocolate mixture until well mixed. Add the marshmallows and mix well, then finally stir in the chocolate chips.

Turn the mixture into an 8 inch square cake tin and lightly smooth the top. Put in the refrigerator and leave to chill for 2-3 hours, until set.

Cut the fingers before serving.

Tip: For those who do not like it too sweet, you can exclude the honey and replace the white chocolate with dark chocolate. Also, Cadbury Gold dark chocolate will do nicely.

(Recipe from Chocolate Treats)

World's Best

2006-04-19T06:02:00.000-07:00

(Picture from leblogd-arthur.hautetfort.com/ files/El-Bulli.jpg)

El Bulli topped the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

Well, the news did not come as a surprise at all. In fact, the restaurant off the Spanish coast won the title almost a matter-of-factly. I first heard about the famous restaurant last year from a well-traveled foodie. Chef Ferran Adria adopts a scientific approach to known as molecular gastronomy. The restaurant’s well-known cuisine has resulted in a waiting list of 40000 to date and perhaps, still increasing.

Taiwanese food writer Xie Zhong Tao ate at the restaurant recently and wrote a three parter series in his blog. It is a mystery how he managed to jump the queue. His vivid account of what he ate at the restaurant makes me wonder though why haven’t I gone ahead to make a booking. Well, guess it’s because of the lack of the company of food fanatics like me.

Among the 50 voted best, I would really love to pop by Tetsuya one day. Don’t ask me why. Check him out yourself!

News Flash : Spain claims top restaurant
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/restaurants/articles/22286130?source=Evening%20Standard

The Food Company

2006-04-02T06:22:00.000-07:00

I was really excited when the day finally arrived.

Lunch at Whitebait and Kale.

I pushed the huge glass door open and saw my friend TS sitting there running through the menu. I took my seat and began to soak in the atmosphere of the restaurant and feeling the beat of the music. I would give the décor a perfect score for replicating the feel of the summer beach house. Soothing jazz music which added a modern touch, perfectly relaxing and a great setting for casual dining. For a moment, there was the illusion of being in downtown Melbourne although you are really at one end of Orchard Road.

The rest of the food company arrived shortly and we started ordering our food. I intentionally asked a young waiter to recommend the house special. It took him a moment before he could sprout “baked snapper pie” and then another to describe what the pie was about. In any case, I had set my eyes on the Risotto with Bay Prawns, Asparagus and Cherry Tomatoes drizzled with Lemon Oil. You see, I have a weakness for risotto. I got hooked to the “Italian fried rice” ever since my best friend introduced the dish to me at Olio Dome many years back. I pretty much enjoy the seafood risotto at Minotti. However, the seafood sauce gets too heavy on your stomach after a while.

It was a pleasant surprise that the risotto at Whitebait turned out simple and healthy. The cherry tomatoes and prawns added a dash of colours to the otherwise pale dish. The generous topping of parmesan cheese was a real treat too. I am someone who is not big on asparagus (yeah, the little girl who hates her veggies) but I had no problem at all gobbling this one down, asparagus and all. The rice was done just right, each bite firm yet starchy. Each mouthful was a genuine pleasure; the ingredients were just so fresh.

The rest of the food company had a jolly good time with their orders too. Two of them went for set lunches while J had the Tagliatelle with Sautéed Emu, Ribbons of Zucchini & Carrot in light Peppercorn Sauce. Dessert was made up of a delectable palette of Soya-almond Panna Cotta with Mirabelle Plum Jelly & Verjus Poached Pear, Valrhona Chocolate Savarin with Grand Marnier Orange Sauce & Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse and Strawberry Shortcakes. Gosh, I literally threw aside my dieting resolutions and dug in the sweetness of heaven.

On the whole, the lunch experience was great. I would love to check out its dinner menu and wine selection sometime soon. The lure of the summer beach house is just irresistible.

Whitebait and Kale Restaurant
One Orchard Boulevard
Camden Centre #01-01
Singapore 248649
Tel : 6333 – 8697
www.whitebaitandkale.com

Hi Chocolate. Meet Cheese.

2006-03-26T05:56:00.000-08:00

On my way to Thomson for dinner, I remembered Teo Pau Lin’s write-up on the cheese brownie in Lifestyle today. Hence I decided to stop by The Baker’s Story to doggy bag some home.

At around 8:45pm, the store was still brightly lit and there were two male yuppies queuing before me. The one before me had ordered an entire block of the cheese brownie ( it looked like a 12 x 12 cm). I was amused while paying for his order, he asked for a single slice from the display fridge and immediately shoved it into his mouth while the cash register rang. I thought to myself “Is it THAT good?”

I reckoned it would be a difficult task to marry brownie with cheese cake without these rich pastries overpowering each other. This one I had was not too sweet and it is almost like eating a two-in-one. The texture of the brownie is smooth and slightly chewy. It took me less than a minute to finish one slice.

Pure indulgence.

The Baker’s Story
8 Sin Ming Road
#01-05 Sin Ming Centre
Tel : 6452 0265

Panna Cotta, Ooh La La!

2006-03-25T22:24:00.000-08:00

It has been on my mind for the past two weeks to try making the traditional Pietmontese specialty - panna cotta. In Italian, panna cotta literally means “cooked cream”. And cooking cream I was, in my kitchen last night. You will find out why later.

I decided the ingredients were simple enough and I should be able to keep my grocery shopping to thirty minutes. Guess what, it took me an hour and I still did not manage to complete my shopping list. For the uninitiated, choosing the right brand of cream can be a challenge. I eventually settled for Bulla Pure Cream as I noticed the label screamed “45% fat” which I just assumed it contained less fat (I am sure most women like me who wear pretty dresses to work can identify with this neuroticism). I had not managed to find sweet basil leaves which was listed in the recipe. Immediately I had thought of replacing this item with mint leaves instead. Alas, this supermarket only promotes “fair price”, but not “complete offerings”. I left with neither basil nor mint leaves.

Back in the kitchen, I started with making the custard first. After emptying 4 full cups of PURE CREAM into the pot, I knew in my mind that I could never bring myself to reveal to the food tasters what the custard was really made of – it would definitely cause a revolt! I was literally cooking cream for the next 10 minutes. Halfway through stirring the mixture in the pot, it suddenly dawned on me that I had left out the vanilla seeds in my shopping list. *Panicked*. The closest replacement I have in my cupboard was the bottle of Amaretto (almond liquer) which I used for making the chocolate truffles last Christmas. “Oh great,” I was thinking, “ finally I found another use for it.”

Next I went on to make the strawberry salsa which was a pretty sight after all the ingredients were mix well together. I made 6 cups of panna cotta and drenched the mixture above it after letting it set for an hour.

Garnishing could be as simple as topping the creation with a strawberry and sprinkle with icing or you can add a piece of dark chocolate with a mint leave for a touch of sophistication.

After this stint, I still find making food no mean feat at all. Well, as with anything, practice makes perfect. (Coupled with the passion for food of course!)

Time to enjoy my labour of love.

Heavenly Concoction

2006-03-20T05:27:00.000-08:00

Blended Avocado Expresso with Chocolate Shavings and Vanilla Ice Cream.

Need I say more?

Crab beehoon, anyone?

2006-03-16T07:38:00.000-08:00

“You ladies are in for a good treat tonight”, declared Mr Giam (who happens to be my dad) while driving me and my mom to dinner.

“So, what gastronomic adventure are we in for this time?” I asked

“Crab beehoon and pork ribs soaked in beer!”

Well, guess we had not much choice except to follow the driver, don’t we? Minutes later, we arrived at Macpherson Lane where Ming Kee was located. The restaurant occupies two shop space that are next to each other. It was not packed and I noticed that the patrons at each table had ordered various crab dishes and pork ribs was a consistent item across the tables. Hmm….interesting. The interior of the restaurant was not exactly eye-catching. However, the ambience was pleasant enough for patrons to enjoy their food.

We ordered the fried crab beehoon, pork ribs in beer, specialty toufu and chilli mussels. The first two items, obviously the highlights of the meal, were served first. The presentation of the crab beehoon was intriguing. The beehoon was stuffed under the crab shell and the crab was laid such that it looked intact in one piece. The fragrance of the crab roe added a twist of flavour to the beehoon and the crab meat had been done just right – tender, juicy and non-stick!

I had been curious about the pork ribs in beer as I wondered the difference between it being cooked in beer and coffee. I know that pork ribs in coffee has been a popular dish in most established restaurants’ menu but I have not heard of the beer version. The lady serving us mentioned that the chef used Guinness Stout for the signature dish but had not offered any reason why. Like the crab, the texture of the ribs was bouncy and it was no doubt finger-licking good!

The next time I visit the restaurant, I would love to try the other seafood dishes. Till then, I have to shed the extra kilos from all the food expeditions and experiments, including this one….

Yummy.

Ming Kee Live Seafood
556 Macpherson Road
Singapore 368231
Tel : 6 7474 075

Le Petite Sandwich

2006-03-13T05:37:00.000-08:00

“Where would you like to meet for tea? You’re the visitor, you get to choose”.

My girlfriend would ask me each time I arrive in Hong Kong. And the answer had been consistent for the past 3 times.

“How about Regala Café in Causeway Bay?”

I have been a lucky girl, in every sense of the word. For a start, every time I am in Hong Kong, be it for work or as a visitor, I get very well taken care of by a bunch of great friends– good lodging, great company and at least one ‘reunion dinner’ at fantastic food places. I’m lucky that my girlfriends are somehow able to take turn to take time off to accompany me, thus ensuring that I have zero still moment in the Asian city that never sleeps. ( To you guys out there, I can never thank you enough.)

I am not sure how this has become a standard routine, but Regala Café has been a favourite hangout ever since my girlfriend, S, introduced me to it more than a year ago. I knew S through a mutual friend from Hong Kong who was then visiting Singapore and I had the honour to be their food and tour guide (I lost count of the number of times I had to visit the same places and eat the same thing whenever my friends come visit).

This quaint little café is located at a nice corner within a departmental store in Causeway Bay, right across the Central Library. The décor exudes an air of elegance, with furnishings that conjure a pretty Japanese look – wooden chairs and tables lined with checked table cloth. The food display seemed to complete the café’s look – quaint, petite and pretty. Bright yellow mango cakes lined the refrigerator by the café entrance while petite sandwiches, fruit salads and a variety of cakes and desserts lined the other one adjacent to it. Each time I visit the café, I could not make up my mind what to have. Everything looked so good! However for first timers, I would not hesitate to recommend their mango cake (the cakes usually get snapped up via phone orders), the apple-chicken sandwich shown above and the crabstick-mango mixed salad. A simple yet delectable fare - especially soothing combination for a long afternoon girly session on fashion, ex-beaus, travel and shoes! The café staff are a shy lot who blush when they have to converse in English with a foreign visitor like me. But hey, cultural exchange do not only take place at United Nation meetings? Yes? No?

On a normal afternoon, the café is usually not crowded and you can have a good dose of solitude if you are alone. I figured their target customers would either be the rich tai tais tired from their shopping rounds or the spill over crowd from the library on good business days. From high-tea sets to ala-carte menu, they have something for everyone.

So, the next time you visit Hong Kong and have the whole afternoon to yourself, go on, have a seat at Regala Café and take in the pretty things (and food) around you. You’ll find yourself enjoying the atmosphere and food so much that time passes without even you realizing it.

*Wink*

Chocolate Crinkles. With love.

2006-03-12T05:10:00.001-08:00

Life didn't seem to be the same again when I had my first chocolate crinkles from Becky's Kitchen, Manila. My colleague, K, had recently returned from Manila and went around the cubicles offering sweets from the distinguishable, pretty, red box. I had chosen the round cookie-like thing among the sweets offered (well, don't they always say you follow your heart when you make major decisions like this?). I sank in my teeth into the crinkle and it became an eternally unforgettable moment.

The next minute, I was on the phone with one of my best pal, M : We are baking chocolate crinkles next week. It is not an option. I'll take care of the ingredients and recipe. Plus, I'll entertain your baby girl. Just say "Yes".

I'm a firm believer of following through what I initiate (most of the times, I now discover, it only applies to something to do with food). Hence, we found ourselves back in the baking kitchen on a lazy Saturday afternoon and ploughing through the recipe which I got hold of online. "Not very difficult", I said, half hoping that the end product will be a solid proof of my bold statement. We divided up the work between us and collaborated in a pretty efficient manner. I supervised the beating of the egg and sugar (hey, you think it's easy beating it to the right texture? It takes one helluva gut feel ok!) as well we melting the chocolate and butter. She sieved the flour and baking powder. One question we both had throughout the baking session : So, what's the difference between the all-purpose flour and the plain flour? See, that's the joy of having two amateurs baking together - we share the same doubts! M had wanted to use plain flour instead of the all-purpose flour as stated in the recipe but I had violent objection to her suggestion - what if the flour is the main ingredient that produces the cracked look on the crinkles? Wouldn't we be done for if the right flour was not used on the first place? Well, since university days, we had been able to resolve our differences in a diplomatic way. It was the same this time. After some intellectual debate,we decided to use the all-purpose flour.

Along the way, I raised another critical question on the recipe. The recipe had detailed that we should cover the surface of the chocolate dough by rolling in icing sugar before sending them into the oven. BUT, my first response would be :Wouldnt the icing melt as you bake? How then do we get the snowy-white-on-chocolate-craked-surface look of the crinkles? And the decision? We'll bake half the batch without the icing and the other half following the recipe. It turned out the recipe was right and we realised we didnt know the nature of our ingredients well! It made me wonder again if I should have gone ahead to buy the book Ingredients co-written by Loukie Werle and Jill Cox. It is a pretty amazing book for beginners like me who has just started expanding my area of indulgence in food - making them, that is. It is a useful dictionary of ingredients and comes in handy when like me at times, you need to find out the difference between all-purpose flour and plain flour. The book contains almost all the answers you need. Let me stress again, it is a good enough book for food roukies like me, not the professionals (This disclaimer is necessary in case Jamie Oliver or ChubbyHubby happened to find their way into my blog)

Our baking effort was a sucessful one, and we had 'professional tasters' who loved our crinkles.

We basked in the glory of our success for a full 10 minutes,before I remembered I still had some baby entertaining to do.

What a crinkled saturday.

Chocolate crinkles
4 tablespoons (56 grams) unsalted butter
8 ounces (225 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cups (100 grams) granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (210 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Topping:
80g icing sugar

In a stainless steel bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter. Remove from heat and set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs and sugar until thick, pale, and fluffy. (When you slowly raise the beaters the batter will fall back into the bowl in slow ribbons.) At this point beat in the vanilla extract and then stir in the melted chocolate mixture.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to chocolate mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm enough to shape into balls, at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (170 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, and set aside.

Place the confectioners sugar in a shallow bowl. With lightly greased hands, roll a small amount of chilled dough to form a 1 inch (2.54 cm) diameter ball. Place the ball of dough into the confectioners sugar and roll the ball in the sugar until it is completely coated and no chocolate shows through. Gently lift the sugar-covered ball, tapping off excess sugar, and place on prepared baking sheet. Continue forming cookies, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart on baking sheets.

Bake cookies for 10 to 15 minutes or just until the edges are slightly firm but the centers are still soft. (For moist chewy cookies do not overbake.) Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

These cookies are best eaten the day they are baked.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Source:
www.joyofbaking.com

Becky's Kitchen

Singalong, 1061 P. Ocampo cor. Bautista St, Singalong, Manila.

Tel : 525 1648, 325 4245