Chik's Crib: February 2015

28 February 2015

Dulce de Leche Brownies

Recipe February 28, 2015 0

Now that I've bought a few baking equipment over the holidays, I've been baking more frequently just so I can justify my purchases to myself. And also to a few other people as well. Why yes, as it happens, I do need a third cake pan. Stop questioning me.

I made a recent batch of brownies with my spiffy new cake pan, and I learnt the happiness that comes along with using cake pans with removable bottoms. Once the brownie is baked, just balance the bottom on a bowl and shimmy the sides of the cake pan off. No more messing around with baking paper or aluminium foil just to wrestle the brownie out of the pan.

Chocolate Espresso Mousse Cake

Review February 22, 2015 0

Now that I've moved onto accommodation on campus this year, I meet a few friends for potluck on the weekends. It's something to look forward to; and frankly, I get sick of my own cooking sometimes. At times like this, I am happy to pass the savoury mantle to others, and just bring along a dessert.

Last week, I made (yet another!) flourless chocolate cake, and this recipe from David Lebovitz was a hit. Like my favourite flourless chocolate cake recipe, the chocolate flavour in this cake is just as pronounced, and would satisfy any and all chocolate cravings. It's an easy-peasy recipe that yields a rich creamy chocolate mousse cake. So creamy, in fact, that David recommends cutting the cake with dental floss instead of a knife.

Photos courtesy of R Wang.

Fedele's Ristorante Italiano

Western Food February 18, 2015 0

So I had kind of a crummy meal out last weekend, which was all the worse because we were celebrating a friend's birthday.

I don't usually write about restaurants that I don't like (or complain about their service), but this one really takes the the (figurative) cake. I have never encountered such disdainful service, not in fast-food joints (rarely frequented for excellent service) or even Asian restaurants reputed for bad service on Urbanspoon. Especially not from restaurants that promise a fine-dining experience, and we left Fedele's with a most unpleasant taste in our mouth.

As we walked into Fedele's, the restaurant seemed to tick all the boxes: the place was clean, well-maintained, and nicely decorated. We looked through the menu and made our orders when the rest of our party arrived. Then we sat back and we started catching up on one anothers' lives, some of whom I haven't seen for a long while. And we waited for our food. And waited. And waited some more.

It was quite a while before I started to wish we had ordered a glass of wine or something, just so I have something to taste. About an hour after we ordered, the entree finally came out.

Affogato Recipe

Recipe February 17, 2015 1

It's been two days since my friend introduced me to the delight that is Frangelico, and my life has changed with this so-easy-to-make-it's-almost-cheating Italian dessert. A splash of Frangelico liquor brought this up to another level, and made it one of the most delicious dessert I had.

When we got to the bottom of the cup, I felt pangs of anxiety that it was all gone. Then I looked around at the tub of ice cream, liquor, coffee, and realised that we could do this all day.

Which we did. Don't judge, you'll do too.

Affogato Recipe

There's no fixed proportion to the ingredients. Because everybody differs in how strongly they like the proportion of liquor, so taste and adjust as needed.

Ingredients (per cup)

1 shot of Espresso

Generous scoop of Vanilla Ice cream

Frangelico, to taste (optional, but oh my god a splash brings the dessert to a whole new level)

Steps

Scoop the vanilla ice cream into a glass, and refreeze the entire cup.

Make espresso (or a strong coffee), and let it cool slightly.

When ready to serve, pour the coffee into the glass, and add Frangelico liquor and serve with a spoon.

Photos courtesy of R Wang

11 February 2015

Alice Medrich's Cocoa Brownies

Recipe February 11, 2015 0

This brownie recipe, which uses cocoa powder instead of chocolate, has been lingering in my do-to list for the longest time. The sweetness found in chocolate bars are replaced by increasing the amount of sugar, and butter takes the place of the inevitable fats in chocolate. I was tempted to cut down on the amount of sugar, but I'm glad I didn't. The recipe makes for a brownie with an intense, dark chocolate flavour, and wasn't sweet at all.

I was trying out Callebaut's cocoa powder, but Alice mentioned in the book that most supermarket brands would suffice and advice to just choose one that you like. Both natural and dutch-processed cocoa powder can also be used. "Natural (non-alkalized) cocoa produces brownies with a more complex, fruity and nuanced chocolate flavour and a light reddish-brown colour. Dutch-processed (Alkalized) cocoa yields darker-coloured brownies with a oreo-like flavour." (Click here for more information about cocoa powder.)

Torta Tenerina (Gluten-free Chocolate Cake) Recipe

Desserts February 09, 2015 0

For the past couple of weeks, I've been reading Dolci: Italy's Sweets, a dessert cookbook that details the regional desserts of Italy. The recipes are compiled by Francine Segan who took the time to test recipes from anybody and everybody's grandmother (and from pastry chefs, and classical Italian baking bibles..).

Try as I might, I couldn't really see big names (and egos!) like Gordon Ramsay endorsing another person's recipe, no matter how spectacular the recipe may be. Which is a shame, because just because they can cook great savoury food doesn't always mean they make fantastic desserts. I learnt plenty from Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course, but one episode on dessert-making advocated whipping cream at room temperature to get the best volume. (Pastry chefs would advise only egg whites should be whipped at room temperature. Cream should be whipped straight out of the refrigerator, both to get the best volume, as well as for hygiene purposes).

49 Seats

Western Food February 08, 2015 0

After hearing so much good things about 49 Seats, a new restaurant on the block selling pasta, Miss XS and I went over for lunch one day. We beat the lunch crowd (Aha! Perks of being on holiday) and we chose a sunny spot along the glass walls of the restaurant.

We had the Cheese Fries, which looked - and tasted - gorgeous. It was rich and generously covered in cheese.

One glaring sign that I'm not cut out to be a food critic is that I have a bad habit of comparing food to fast-food alternatives. I compare all cheese fries to KFC's version, and all mashed potato to Popeyes'. Call me crazy, but these fast-food MNCs really do make great versions of these sides. 49 Seats' fries were hot and perfectly done, and I particularly enjoyed the rich cheese sauce.

We wanted to try the exotic Tom Yum Pasta, but we ended up with the Smoked Duck Pasta which was highly recommended by the Hungrygowhere community. We didn't like this one. The spaghetti was overcooked and the slices of smoked duck tasted just like ham. The sauce was loaded with cream, and the entire dish was too gao to be enjoyed. It's like eating spoonfuls of heavy cream. We caved and ordered a Coke, and it was the best Coke I had in my life.

We wanted to love this place. "Rich creamy sauce" comes to mind whenever I think about this place, and not in a good way. Maybe a combination of cream-based pasta and Cheese fries was a bad combination? Their prices are really affordable though, particularly for being in the Orchard area.

07 February 2015

Tai-I-Wan Trip! Day 5

Travel February 07, 2015 0

Okay, I gave it my best shot. We really did. But it's hard to stay up the entire night after walking for a whole 12 hours on the previous day, and the combination of a heavy dinner, an hour's massage and a hot shower was too much for us. We called it quits at 4am and crawled back into our own beds. We woke up just a couple of hours later, because I wanted to eat Jian Hong Beef Noodles one more time before we go. Walking to the beef noodles stall was challenging for us sleep-deprived zombies. I can't walk, keep my eyes open and reply messages on my phone at the same time. Choose two out of three, matey.

It was too early and I only managed to finish half the noodles, but I made sure to hunt down every last piece of beef. And polished off the Century Egg and Tofu side dish. But that was my limit. Should have followed everybody else, and just get the Beef Noodles sans noodles (top).

We passed by a 7-11 on the way back to the hotel, and I seized the opportunity to buy several bottles of the delicious Mandheling coffee the lady cab-driver treated us to. When the driver from yesterday dropped us off at the airport a few hours later, we waved goodbye effusively. In the 3 days that we booked them, I met two of their drivers and I couldn't recommend this company enough.

J's stash of coffee.

We reached the airport early, and we spent an hour pleasantly in Hanlin Tea Room - the same one from Jiufen which I didn't manage to try. I enjoyed the relaxed posh atmosphere of Hanlin here in the airport, which the branch at Jiufen lacked. It was a good place to fritter time away in the airport. I had an exotic Pu'er Milk Tea (TWD175), but it didn't taste as nice as I expected.

Tai-I-Wan Trip! Day 4

Travel February 04, 2015 0

Yangmingshan (陽明山) was something EJ has been looking forward to, so we put on our trekking shoes and made an appointment with the same cab company to bring us there. It was about an hour's drive away, but we made good time on the drive in the early morning traffic. The actual trek, however, took us quite a while to complete. Perhaps we indulged one too many times at the night markets?

There is some serious walking to do, but after a few days of non-stop eating, we really should start some exercise before we become unrecognizable from our passport photos. And if we're going to pick a scenic route to do some walking, we couldn't have picked a nicer place. We breezed past the easy-peasy areas that other tourists linger around, and headed straight for the mountaineous route. The initial area was so touris-y, in fact, that what we thought to be a temple poised against the face of the mountain turned out to be ... a souvenir shop. No, we were determined to transverse through the entire trail of the mountain, and I convinced my inner shopaholic that I didn't think the souvenir shop would run out of keychains before we get back.

The scenery got more beautiful the higher we went, and the chatter of crickets made the walk almost magical. I mentioned to the others that I've heard it told crickets chirp only as they mate. It looks like we're not the only ones getting our heart rates up...

The definition of 'stairs' got looser and looser the higher we go

Tai-I-Wan Trip! Day 3

Travel February 03, 2015 0

The roads of Taiwan are a game of chicken. Drivers pull into the next lane without signaling, and switch lanes willi-nilly in intersections. Want to cross the road when the green man is flashing? How dare you. There are cars waiting to turn. Keep eye contact so they know you're going to cross, and you best move that ass. And yet, there is order in chaos, and we haven't seen any car accidents - or even heard the sound of a car horn - in the week we were there. Not once. Looking at how they drive, I initially thought that Taiwan drivers are horrible. Now I'm much wiser, and realise they may in fact be the best drivers I've ever seen.

And their motorcyclists travel in packs. After spending a week here, I saw a lone motorcyclist on my last night, and I swear it feels odd.

We found a cab company along the streets of Ximending that specialises in tours.

They have several suggested day-tours for attractions located in the outskirts of Taipei, but you can change the order (and skip several attractions) to suit your itinerary.

We booked an 8 hour tour (TWD3500) to bring us to 九份 (Jiufen) and 十分 (Shifen) districts with a chatty cab-driver. After she learnt that we hadn't had breakfast, she told us there's a well-known porridge place a few minutes drive away. She suggested driving us over there for breakfast, and she'll start the clock only after we had some food.

(On the drive over, her phone rang, and she took both hands off the steering wheel to reach for the phone. All four of us immediately reached for the seat belts.)

Tai-I-Wan Trip! Day 2

Travel February 01, 2015 0

Okay, the hotel room wasn't so bad. So people walk through the bathroom to enter the bed area. But at least the shower and toilet had frosted glass walls to cover the most important bits. And you can draw a curtain between the bathroom and the bed area when you take a shower. (Although, bad luck if you started showering without locking the front door first.) But all in all, Puri Hotel is a clean, affordable stay.

We didn't linger much in our hotel because there were just too much to see. We kicked off Day 2 with an early metro trip to Din Tai Fung at Taipei 101 (alight at World Trade Center Station). DTF is one of the most renowned Chinese restaurant and has won numerous international accolades. It has several outlets in Singapore, and can be found in many other territories like USA as well as Hong Kong (where 2 branches were awarded 1 Michelin star). It'll be a shame if we didn't visit Din Tai Fung in Taiwan, the country where it all began. Bring on the xiao long baos!

Because every man and his brother warned us the queue at Din Tai Fung, we got there almost an hour before the restaurant was due to open. Which we whiled away by wandering around Taipei 101 and taking lots of pictures, like every well-prepared tourist. When a crowd of Korean tourists joined the queue and started taking selfies, some of us even found the time to photo-bomb them. (Although, now that I think about it, it's impossible to surprise photobomb people taking a selfie...)

This is the start of the queue to Din Tai Fung, and we are so first.

DTF opened its doors 15 minutes to 11, and we were the first through its doors. Ha! Being early pays off, especially since most other tourists arrive by the busload. We were shown to our seats, and it was the grandest Din Tai Fung I ever saw. In the foyer, a couple of metal workers were engraving DTF chopsticks for sale.

28 February 2015

Dulce de Leche Brownies

22 February 2015

Chocolate Espresso Mousse Cake

18 February 2015

Fedele's Ristorante Italiano

17 February 2015

Affogato Recipe

11 February 2015

Alice Medrich's Cocoa Brownies

09 February 2015

Torta Tenerina (Gluten-free Chocolate Cake) Recipe

08 February 2015

49 Seats

07 February 2015

Tai-I-Wan Trip! Day 5

04 February 2015

Tai-I-Wan Trip! Day 4

03 February 2015

Tai-I-Wan Trip! Day 3

01 February 2015

Tai-I-Wan Trip! Day 2

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