This is my first forage into pies this year, and just in time for Halloween too! In previous years, I've made Chez Panisse's Almond Tarts before, as well as this easy French Tart Dough Recipe, both of which make an easy pie dough that don't require a rolling pin. (Luckily too, because I don't have one.) I thought in the spirit of Halloween, I should tackle something that had been scaring me off for the longest time: pie dough that requires a rolling...

Happy Halloween! When I thought of Halloween last year, disjointed memories come to me. It was around the week when our district's electricity got knocked out by a faulty electric grid late in the night, plunging the residential halls, as well as most of our campus, into a sudden darkness. Unable to study, and frankly, sick of studying by that time, we decided to explore the blacked-out campus by way of torchlight. The buildings,...

Breizoz French Crêperie is a homey joint along the streets of Fitzroy serving up hot fresh crêpes. There is the usual sweet dessert crêpes available, as well as a selection of savoury galettes (a type of crêpe made with buckwheat flour, which makes a crisper texture.) As we walked through the doors, the warmth of the restaurant was a welcome reprieve from the cold spring air. The unmistakable sizzle of the batter on the hot iron...

I love eating the crisp edges of a cake. I love eating warm cakes fresh from the oven. And I always, always try my best to eat as much cake while avoiding the cake frosting. Cupcakes, with their chilled interior, their over-the-top frostings and their little paper cups pulling away at all the crisp edges of the cake, were an annoyance to me. I couldn't understand why cupcakes are so popular for the longest time. It's only recently...

You should be making crepes this weekend. Crepes have a fancy reputation, and it's a common misconception to think crepe-making was reserved for the experts. How could cooking and flipping these thin, delicate pastries ever be easy? I remember making pancakes as a child, and agonising whether a pancake is cooked all the way through, or still runny on the inside. Because crepes are thin, they are much simpler: when the surface looks...

Public Service Announcement for durian lovers: HS Cake is the place for all your durian cravings.  For $25, you get a fluffy, three-tiered, so-wide-my-eyes-sparkled, soft sponge cake, with each tier lovingly stuffed with durian puree. It's a simple concept, but it's simplicity done well. The durian puree itself is fragrant, and big chunks of durian pulps are dispersed throughout the puree. The cake is impressively...