Coupla new food adventures over at the food blog, take.eat. I've added the link now under Bare Essentials. :D

This sounds weird to me, even. But yes, i'm going to be catering macarons for a friend's wedding. I'm quite dazzled by the whole prospect because i'm really just a novice baker and all i've done is to give macs away for fun. And yes, i still do get downright ugly macarons no matter how many times i've pursued making the perfect ones.

And true, i've ever toyed with the idea of setting up an online store for my baked stuff but even then, they were just dreams... Dreams encouraged by those around me to bring to fruition but gained no real ground because i'm not confident of my ability to commit since i'm suppose to be getting a "proper" job after i graduate. (Friends see the potential but i'm not sure if my family would balk at me becoming a stay home baker. Hmm.)

So yes, to my surprise, a request from an old classmate came around on FB and i readily said yes. It's a great honour. Being able to provide something for a friend on her special day is a great privilege i don't take lightly.

And it's certainly a wonderful opportunity! I'm not sure if you can call it a big break, but we'll see how it goes... I guess i'll only know how good my stuff are when i get feedback from a wide range of people. 500 people at the wedding. No small number, yo. I'm glad i'm just starting off with an order of 200. I cannot fathom making 500 macs at the moment. D-8

Gem and i have had a few conversations on what happens if it really takes off. Not in a large scale way, but what if people begin to write in asking for orders for various events like birthdays and baby showers. Would i be able to manage it all? I don't know. I count myself really blessed that Gem is a designer! He not only designs environmental sets for events, he also has had a hand in designing wedding invitations, namecards and the like. Heehee. So, no mystery as to who will be helping me with my namecard if i even decide on making one. Haha.

So, yes. Although this is going to be my first time doing something like this, i'm going to have to pray hard... That the macs don't mess up on me and my friend on her special day. I hope that everyone will enjoy my handiwork as much as i enjoy making them for their eating pleasure. :)

Italian Meringue, post macaron class...

1st Attempt

1) Used thermometer to measure temperature of sugar syrup.
2) Sugar caramelized although thermometer said it was at 116C, which is about right.
3) In my haste, and absolute bad estimation of what 30 seconds was, i added in the hot sugar into the egg whites and i got scrambled candied omelette in the electric mixer. Fail max.
4) Hard time washing up. And formulating how NOT to mess up the second time. Washing off hard sugar off surfaces ain't easy.

2nd Attempt

1) Used thermometer to measure temperature of sugar syrup. This time, was more careful with the fire, and allowed the temperature to slowly creep up till 116C. Still caramelized around some corners. :(
2) Added it to the eggs in hope that a little browned sugar wouldn't hurt.
3) Wrong.
4) When the sugar hit the cool eggs, the sugar became solid blocks of candy swirling around in my bowl.
5) :(
6) I did achieve a meringue for my pains, but decided that having hard lumps of candy in my meringue won't be nice in my macarons.

3rd Attempt

By now, i am a little cheesed off at myself but i'm not giving up. This time, i decided to use another chef's methodof gauging if the syrup was done. I used her instinctive method of sticking a fork in to syrup and then seeing if i can blow out bubbles from the fork thongs. I had highly doubted if i could even be able to do that cos i... uh, felt inadequate. Not that i doubted her logic, since i've seen her do it.

1) So this time, i did the same thing again, slow but not that slow a fire.
2) Realized egg whites were not beating up into foam cos there was too little in the bowl bah. Added a bit more egg whites.
3) Behold! I tested the syrup at a few points and discovered that I COULD blow bubbles when it was right! I WAS SO PLEASED. And the sugar was NOT caramelized. Geez. No need for troublesome thermometers that clatter about and now i really don't trust this made in china one i bought. Sigh. Money wasted. Next time, if i ever do want to get a cooking thermometer, i should get the infrared type since they don't rely on sitting in the pot and that can cause the tip of the thermometer to touch the bottom of the pot and mess up everything.
4) Added the slightly cooled (30seconds) syrup to the eggs. No mishaps. No cooked eggs, no sugar crystals. Just, nice firm and glossy meringue ready to use.

Third time's a charm, huh?

Lets see how these italian macs turn out... It's my first time making them after those mac classes i've had which taught me a new thing or two. :)

Update: the macs turned out very nice. :) Some still had lopsided feet for some strange reason, but otherwise, they were really nice! :DD

Update: i think the lopsided feet are caused by my uneven and heat warped baking pans! Dargh. Also... italian meringue macs tend to be hollow inside. Sheesh. So the first batch that i made that turned out so nice was simply due to beginner's luck eh.

Credits go to: http://notsohumblepie.blogspot.com/2010/08/macaron-troubleshooting-new-recipe.html

Since last year, i've been meddling with tons and tons of sugar, almonds, egg whites and possibly suffering from fat overload from trying to cook and get rid of all the spare egg yolks lying around. All in the name of making one of my favourite desserts: the macaron.

I've tried the french method, italian and even swiss methods of making the meringue and i've had so many failures and partial successes that at times, i throw tantrums just because of a tray of failed macarons. And okay, there was one particular day when i had 16 failed trays all in one row. Talk about discouraging.

But you know. When i want something to be made right, i stick to getting it down right.

I've been reading this blogger's macaron posts over and over again for a while now and i've been given so many tips and pointers without her knowing it. I am forever grateful to her! For her honesty, her candidness, and her efforts, because now i can make macs at home and make macs to give away to others without having to spend a bomb on those being sold commercially which aren't that delicious. Some are great, but would me a pretty penny. (But of course, some flavours are beyond my ability to recreate so i'm still thankful)

Yes, so these are my chocolate macarons made with her recipe that includes dehydrated egg whites. I didn't age my egg whites (read: impatient) but they still turned out decent i guess. What i'm most stoked about is that they are so nicely filled up (no hollows), have nice, smooth, non oily and non translucent shells and they have feet! Most of my french meringue macs die before reaching the oven (weird batter), or come out looking like something else altogether. The only thing i'm not toooo satisfied about is that they do not that that delightfully crisp exterior. They are just soft all the way through.... Hm. :( I wonder if it has something to do with not aging the eggs or not having them rest enough.

Nevertheless... Thank you Miss NSHP! :D

French and Swiss meringue Macs

these are my french green tea macs. i'm so proud of them because most of the other times when i tried making french macs, they either fail BEFORE even going into the oven (and that's when i actually dilligently aged the egg whites. *shrug*) or they fail so badly that they end up looking like all kinds of macawrongs. and i don't mean minor fail. i mean, so major that they can pass off as japanese prawn crackers.

these were still slightly hollow but a definite improvement from all the other macs i have made. the previous macs had very obvious hollows and sunken, collapsed insides. At least these had insides that rose and even stuck to the shell. There were still air gaps in these but overall, a stark improvement from failed macs to macarons with just partial hollow insides! the feet aren't great but it's a start to something better.

there we go. *chomp* the filling was made with fresh milk (didn't have cream), white chocolate and butter, infused with jasmine green tea.

french and swiss meringue (from the TOTT class) macs hanging out together. they look so different don't they!

(photos taken at night, so... oh well. none of those nice, brightly lit window photos that i love)

Sub-Geeky Macaron Post. Beware.

I wish i had more information to make this a full on Macaron Geek post. But since i don't, i'll just do my best with whatever i know. Sorry that i've not been updating but yes, much has been happening in the kitchen while i serve house arrest... though i really should be focusing on my dissertation. In my defense, high kitchen activity equals lowered stress levels, so... better to destress, no? :)

anyway, i just came back from HANDS ON MACARON class at TOTT (Tools of the Trade). Apparently i had registered for another mac class with another cooking school but it was one of those you-cook-i-watch kind of things which isn't my cup of tea but at that time, i thought it was the only mac class available. But Gem found a mac class in TOTT that allowed us to get bustling and he registered and paid for the class for me. I WAS ECSTATIC. I'm back and boy, i am HIGH from the experience. Major high. I would probably be feeling higher if i were in a French kitchen, but this is a start. I'm so indebted to the boyfriend for his thoughtfulness and generousity. THANK YOU DEAR! I WILL REMEMBER THIS FOR LIFE! CAN YOU NOW SEND ME TO PIERRE HERMES' KITCHEN? Hee.

I've relearned the way to make macs the swiss meringue way. Okay, okay. I know swiss meringues aren't looked up to as THEE way to make macs. It is often read through blogs that PH uses the italian meringue, but at class, i was told he uses the swiss way. *shrugs* it would make sense to do it the swiss way since you don't have to let the macs rest for hours before baking. With people eager to buy some of those holy pieces of pastry, i'm not sure which way he sticks to.

But since i've tried PH's macarons and i've tried the swiss meringue ones... i really can't say that they are the same in texture. PH's are more "biscuity". The macs are drier, more crisp. The shells are crisp and the insides are softer, but not extremely moist. Surprisingly different from what i'm used to. I'm not sure if that's the result of them being flown all the way back to Singapore in my sister's luggage and sitting in the fridge for a few days because i was too in awe to eat them.

UPDATE: Sister said that the PH's macs are actually soft! So, it seems like the flight from France to Sg in the luggage cabin did dry them out. Ah so des ne. So, they weren't biscuity after all.

Anyway. The swiss meringue macs are chewier with very sturdy shells. But then again... it's because they haven't had time to mature in the fridge. I should wait a day or two before i give my full verdict. But i'm pretty sure that they aren't going to become crisp and light like PH's. Hmph.

I guess i can only say that in PH's kitchen, they have extremely controlled conditions like temperature and humidity. Being in Singapore, the humidity is already a meringue murderer. So, replicating the conditions and churning out macs like his is close to... I don't know. I still choose to be optimistic about my endeavours. Hurhur.

Things i learnt today (not in any sequence wrt to mac making):

1) Italian meringue buttercream: Do not be afraid to let the sugar boil! And DO NOT, DO NOT, stir the sugar! Just let it sit and boil away... Then do the bubble test with a fork, which will tell you if it's ready. How to? Stick a fork into the syrup, lift it out, and blow through the thongs and if you can blow out BUBBLES (i kid you not), then the syrup is ready. Problem is though, is when to put in the fork. Hmm. Trial and error i guess. Alternatively, you can go spend on a thermometer. Now i know why my italian meringue macs are kinda wonky... I hardly wait that long for the sugar to boil up because i'm afraid that the whole thing will caramelize and i will have a hard time scraping my sauce pot clean.

2) That it is very shiok to call the instructor "Chef??", "Chef!", "Uh..., Chef...?". Heh. Machiam in Gordon Ramsey's kitchen, but without the yelling of profanities. Didn't get to yell out "YES CHEF!" though. (You might be able t0 tell, FoodNetwork and the Asian Food Channel is very much a part of my life...)

3) When doing up the egg whites and sugar in a bowl over a Bain Marie, the water needs to be BOILING. Not simmering. Whisk it from all directions and NO pussy whisking. It almost looks like you're beating it to death. To tell if it's done, is to stick your finger in. Ouch. But yes, ouch is the reaction you want. You want the mixture to be HOT, but not cooked. Tricky. But do-able. She taught us to be instinctive in our baking, and not follow thermometers. Hmm. I think there may be howls of protests from both camps about this.

4) Once in the electric mixer, to tell if it is done, stick your finger in and if the meringue comes out standing up stiffly, with a good firm stretch till it kinda shrinks at the tip and droops over, it is done. Firm peak on the whisk does not mean a rod straight beak. She said that it should be a single beak that curls down slightly at the tip when the whisk is lifted.

5) When mixing the dry and wet, you can simply stir the spatula around. None of that folding you normally see in other mac videos. I think this is peculiar to the swiss meringue. Stir and mix till the batter is well mixed but still thick and drops down in a thick and slow ribbon when the spatula is lifted.

6) Piping. Learnt a NEW skill! Pipe perpendicular to the table, STOP, twist deftly in a small circle to cut off the meringue and more importantly, this will stop the macs from having pointy "hats", or, er, nipples. I'll stick to hats, okay? Anyway, I think this is more crucial for the swiss meringue because it is a very firm meringue and it does not spread out and flatten as much as the french and italian meringue.

Piped by my partner who is new to piping macs. Good try! Here was our first batch of green tea macs. Haha. This was without close supervision from Chef. This is Chef's perfect looking macs. Our choc macs! Turned out nice because we had more supervision from Chef during the meringue making part and piping. I was determined to have them without hats, so i took my time to pipe them. Okay, but they still have... nipples. Meh. Me with my piped choc macs. Very pleased. I am not usually this neat. 7) This mac batter bakes well at 150C. Chef says DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DURING BAKING! Hmm. Okay. I try. But my home oven is wonky and not trustworthy... 150C on the dial does not mean 150C inside the oven...

8) Fillings can be piped using a plastic bag with a corner snipped off. Keep it small though. No need for metal tips here.

9) Whipping cream for chocolate ganache must be 35% something... Milk fats, i think?

10) Chocolate couverture must have at least 53.5% cocoa butter and solids. Do not store ganache in the fridge to set, but leave it in the open.

11) Finished buttercream looks thick, gathered together.

12) Heat was from the top AND bottom of the oven. How strange. If i did that in my oven, i would get... Oreo cookies.

(Above) We get to drink all the Gryphon tea we want. Heaven much. Tea goes very well with macs. If only i had the time to sit still and enjoy my tea with the sweet macs.

(Above) The very cool induction stove. So that none of us get a chance to blow ourselves or TOTT up.

And of course, the finished products: Green tea mac with green tea buttercream (this was SOOOO DELICIOUS) and red bean paste dolloped on top. (sorry for the weird alignment. I can't figure out why Blogger has formatting issues i've never had before. also, the photos don't look too good due to the lighting and also because i had to switch between a proper camera and my phone's camera. Proper camera batt was dying on me. Gah.)

Sister's verdict of swiss macs: She prefers the french meringue macs i made a couple of days ago with Tartelette's recipe, in terms of texture (soft). She finds these too chewy. But lets see how it goes after a day or two of maturing in the fridge.

It was a really, really, REALLY fun day in the kitchen at TOTT. We had a chef who was generous with her sharing, classmates who were eager to learn, a fellow food photographer (with DSLR somemore), free tea, coffee and ICE water (godsent), TOTT staff to wash up after us and help with equipment, and the encouragement for one another when some of us didn't make it or made it with our macarons. It was good fun. :) I would so do it again! If only the classes didn't cost so much though.

Best Ever Chewy Choco Chunk Cookie

I am forever indebted to this person whose blogpost i stumbled upon while looking up a recipe for chocolate chip cookies. She made changes to the popular new york times cookie recipe and came up with her own and you know, i'm a fan of it after trying it just ONCE! Left her a thank you comment but since she posted the recipe almost a year ago, hmm... not too sure if she'll know. But anyhow, all credit goes to her.

Check it out: http://www.tallgrasskitchen.com/chocolate-chip-cookies

I see she's a reader of The Pioneer Woman too! :D

I wish the lighting was better here but yup! Hope this entices you enough to go try it out. I halved the recipe and it still worked beautifully, just so you know.

Stuffed portobello mushrooms. These were soooo good. But i think i'll still try other ways of stuffing them (these had bacon in it). The possibilities for mushrooms and cheese is endless!

The tomato sauce turned out really delicious, but i think i picked the wrong pasta to use. The grilled chicken was okay. It was tasty, but i think i still prefer overnight marinated chicken to glazed-while-cooking chicken.
And these were the rosemary and garlic baby potatoes! I tried to make them as healthy as possible, so i put less oil and less salt. I think i will make them tastier next time by adulterating the recipe with all the other kinds of herbs and spices. Teehee.

and lastly... these AWESOME THE BOMB GO CRAZY EAT ALL STUFF YOUR FACE FINISH EVERYTHING AND MAKE AGAIN CHOCOLATE AND PEANUT BUTTER BROWNIE. Ina Garten struck gold with this one. Oh... These were soooo good. Best eaten with chocolate loving friends around the dinner table. And vanilla ice cream. But of course. :) Have never made brownies from scratch before and this is the first recipe i've tried. Excellent. I'm full of praise for Ina. Get the recipe here! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/peanut-swirl-brownies-recipe/index.html
I've made a few changes to suit my pantry's limitations and tastebuds, but you shouldn't stray too far off as well. Go try it! But i would halve the recipe, imho.

Had a prayer and catch up session with some of my church leaders and so this was a good excuse for me to cook and have people over during my Dissertation House Arrest. It was good. Food, friends, catching up and prayer. All good.

dinner feast we had with some relatives over. veg, salad, beef rendang, thai basil chicken, prawns, sausages and hot rice.
view of the sun setting between the two trees.

love how the wooden building stands out against the sunlit mountain.

water suspended in time.

yummy lunch of egg-mayo-onions, tomato, cheese and black pepper. i think i'm getting a little pudgey. hmm.

one of the dogs from another dogsled team. handsome guy isn't he? :) i love how he stared right into the camera.

this is Sun and Chocolate, two of the dogs from my dogsled team.

and this is Sun again. he's so adorable and in doofy way but he used to be one of the top racing dogs around in Vancouver, BC.

dog butts as we go along! they apparently love running and they thrive in subzero temperatures! like, -10degreesC and below? i think it was -25. the guide says they eat 5000 calories a day!

stopping for a break and i get a really good shot of them looking back at us. they're probably saying: c'mon guys! lets get going already!

my morning hot chocolate before the dogsled tour. it's so good on a cold, snowy, slushy morning.

a snowball for my targets. muah hahah. but had a change of heart afterwards and didn't throw it.

L to R: Green tea, Peppermint, Lemon and Tiramisu

The fruit of many hours in the kitchen. Credits to Weizhen for giving me the idea of doing a tiramisu version... V (close friend) really liked it even though she isn't even a macaron person. One of Gem's friends also enjoyed the tiramisu one. Whoopee! :D

Thinking that i would be leaving on sunday for my Canadian adventure, i thought i had time to do up the literature review of my dissertation. But instead, i discovered that the 31st is THIS friday. Good job, Jo. So now i'm rushing out my literature review and am guessing that i'm making more headway in these few hours than in the last 7 months.

Just thought of sharing this photo with you, as part of my macaron madness journey. :)

it's been birthday meals after birthday meals (treats from friends and family. love.), and then doing my research's interviews in the last week or so.

and today, i spent 14 hours in the kitchen baking macarons for parties i'm going to. it was a real macaron marathon i tell ya. started the morning off with coffee-chocolate shells (zen's great idea of making tiramisu macarons), and moved on to making green tea shells, then lastly, lemon shells. from 10:30am to 12:30am, thereabout. I really enjoy the process, i'll admit. though the repetition of steps and the worry over whether the macs will crack/will not have feet/will have lopsided feet drives me a little nuts.

and i found out 2 keys things to prevent macaron death. 1) get level trays. 2) Air-con

Spoilt biscuits, aren't they? Even i don't rest in air-con rooms. hurhur. the lengths i have to go to to make them, just because i live in singapore where the humidity is high.

can't wait to experiment with flavours! going to attempt to deviate from the usual flavoured white chocolate filling and try making a buttercream. It's lots more work though. Meh.

hopefully i'll have photos to show you tmr. :) for now, toodles, good night.

Made green tea macarons today! They were pretty much a success because i decided to be patient and pipe less macarons on each baking tray. It minimised the number of fail macs so for once i had more "pass" than "fail' mac shells. Gave most of them to 2 friends by the end of the day and i'm hoping they like 'em. It's really a pleasure to just bake and give the outcomes away. I'm enjoying the baking process so much so that the pleasure is all in the baking and not the eating.

I kept the fail ones to eat and one nice one to take a shot of and post it here tomorrow.

So far i've been achieving some level of success with the italian meringue method, but i still have that annoying problem of having a hollow space in between the shell and the base. Oh well. They taste fine, but perhaps the texture isn't quite so satisfying.

I'm quite determined to achieve success with the french meringue method. In all my 4 attempts, i've failed 4 times. But i'm not throwing the towel in yet. I've already got my egg whites aging on the dining table, waiting for their turn to be made into macarons... i need ideas on what flavour i should attempt next.

So far, i've done:
- rose with white chocolate filling
- chocolate with chocolate and vanilla-peppermint filling
- green tea with white chocolate and passionfruit ganache/chocolate peppermint filling
- lemon/orange blossom with lemon curd filling

hmm, what's next? Maybe...

- chocolate with salted caramel
- vanilla/chocolate with peppermint buttercream
- chocolate with butterscotch filling
- some fruit thingy...?
- some cinnamon thingy?
- some lavender thingy?

I owe my sister a pure peppermint one with crushed candy canes in the filling. Am trying to devise a yummy way of making that macaron.

Going to zonk out now, in 3,2,1.

Short note to self:

1) too much green tea powder killed the green tea macaron!
2) but this time, my french macarons didn't fall flat and didn't have that hollow beneath the shell which is a good thing. so, aged eggs do work. i left the egg whites on my dining table for 24 hours before using it. no feet still though, but it's an improvement nonetheless.
3) mom questioned me on how much money i throw away every time i make an inedible fail batch.... i've made a calculation, and depending on what i put in the batter, it can range from $4-$17 bucks. So far, that is. my heart breaks every time macarons go straight into the bin, but what am i to do? they are just simply not edible.

in other news, my 4-5 year old Acer Travelmate has died. Hard disk crashed. And has taken away all my recipes with it. Really sad but what am i to do? Dad and i also discussed that paying a base cost of $350 that can balloon to $3000 for the lost data is not worth it. So... it's goodbye school work, music, photos, recipes. May whatever cyberspace god that that is out there watch over you. sigh. :(

Note to self:

1) the left/back side of my oven sucks big time. Temperature rises really really fast, i finally saw it objectively with my oven thermometer.
2) the right side sucks small time, so beware.
3) To increase number of successful macarons, pipe batter in the middle of the tray and place in the middle of the oven, (therefore, try to "undermix" the batter a little since i'm going to have the batter sitting in the piping bag), OR,
4) Pipe as per normal but place tray in vertically and to the right side, and shift tray around as per needed. Eg. When macarons start to puff up, crack, etc. I'll still lose some though... I think i might go the way of point 3. Much less heartbreak and wastage.

Made some lemon ones with my newfound technique. Some got destroyed due to uneven heat but otherwise, i think i can now finally finetune my baking time to achieve a less dry macaron. 14 minutes seems a little too long. Shall try 12-13minutes the next time.

Chocolate shell with dark chocolate mint filling, and the other one is lemon with lemon curd filling. I can't wait to make my green tea with white chocolate ones! The green tea powder is pricey so i've to make sure that i can consistently make okay macarons before using the matcha powder.

After my 4 failed trays of macarons (4! FOUR! That's a painful lot of failed macarons...) two nights ago, yesterday afternoon i gritted my teeth and set to work again to find out what went wrong and what i should be doing to achieve nice looking macarons. Notice i say "nice looking", because perfecting the insides is another madcap adventure altogether.

The recent consistent failures really started to sap my reservoir of hope and belief in myself. For every 1-2 pretty macarons you see here on this blog, there were tons more that didn't make it. Tray after tray of wasted ingredients, time, money and energy.

But it was those early successes (Thank You Lord!), without knowing how in the world i did it, that's keeping me driven to keep trying. It was because i managed to make them before that i know it's possible to make macarons at home! It's not just for the professionals. I read up on macaron 101s from credible bloggers (who are equally MacCrazy), made notes and tried to understand the problem behind the failures.

So back to yesterday afternoon.

Inserted my first (rather crowded) tray of macarons into the oven, and as usual, they started their dismaying habit of puffing up and cracking, and not developing any feet... In my desperate attempt to save them, i opened the oven door slightly to reduce the temperature in hope of stopping the impending macaron death. Before, i would have kept the temperature at 150degress (Heat should be set to come from the bottom. But that's just my oven.) because that's what the recipes said.

But this time, i decided to take things into my own hands. (though i did remember some advice out there that mentioned to lower the temperature once you put the macarons in. some people agreed, some disagreed. i didn't think it would work for me, but...)

Strangely, i noticed that some macarons looked smooth. The top wasn't cracked, and to my delight... they started to develop FEET. Even, pretty feet. The pretty ruffled bottoms! I was on the verge of screaming. Hyperventilating. But okay, theatrics aside, all i did was message 2 of my life's dearest people, Jiejie and Gem.

Sure, some of the macarons died because of the uneven heat distribution in the oven. BUT HEY! Some turned out looking REALLY good! I was ecstatic. And i still had one more tray to experiment with.

So, preheated the oven back up again to 150-160degrees (it overshot a little this time) and buanged the 2nd (not so crowded) tray in. I did the same thing, which was to let the temperature settle down to 140degrees thereabout. I had to sit in front of the oven and stare into the window very intently, watching the oven themometer's needle and watching my macarons' reaction to the heat.

Result: Perfectly smooth, feet-ed macarons. I was so pleased. And messaged Jie and Gem that i could now Rest in Peace.
(to which Jie replied: "Dun die so fast leh, u havent made the peppermint ones")
Oh yeah, I had promised to make her those.

I'm not 100% sure if this is the solution to my macaron problems (other than not making them on a humid day). So i'm going to try again soon to replicate the conditions, after i'm done eating/passing out to GP List the ones i just made. The positive thing about seeing the same looking failed macs is that i know i'm doing everything consistently. Which means, there are perhaps only just 1-2 (God forbid more than that) factors that need to be tweaked. Guess it turned out to be the temperature fluctuations.

I'm guessing that the higher temperature first allowed the shells to puff up nicely and harden while the falling temperature ensured that they don't crack right through. 140degrees allows the insides to cook and the macaron to form pretty feet.

The 1st tray. With dead and live macarons.

The beginnings of a discovery...
And here! Pretty macarons! FINALLY! After so many heart breaks.

I've got empty lemon and chocolate shells waiting to be filled... Yummy. :D Shall go look for ideas now. It took so much reading up to get the right tips online! Once I get consistent results with the italian method, i'm going to venture into the french method. Muah hahaha...

Now, if only the same zest for my dissertation would kick in...

MacCrazy

Yes. I've finally bought my equipment (i think the baking pans could be better though) and curiousity got the better of me... And so i've begun trying my hand at making the Diva Biscuits, aka the Macarons. The instructions looked easy enough. I soon found out it isn't about the steps. It's the technique.

I'm a fan of these sweet little monsters (you'll see why i call them monsters soon). And when i say i'm a fan, i really mean a slobbering, shifty wide-eyed, hyperventilating creature with a maniacal smile plastered all over her face, whenever i see macarons in the distance. Ask Gem if you don't believe me. I'm quite adept at shapeshifting like that.

Won't say too much, and let the photos do the talking.

Macarons have infinite ways of going wrong. Out of 2 trays, only 1/4 of them can be known to survive. My heart gets broken often by these tyrants. But i think my oven is partly to blame too.

Flat, porous, feetless pancakes. Friend says they look like japanese crackers. Too true!

More japanese prawn crackers. Meh. These were hollow, feetless and porous.

These miraculously had feet, but were sticky, flat and altogether just ridiculous.

After many tries, these macarons were born... Orange blossom with lemon curd filling, and rose with white chocolate filling.

Did them the italian meringue way which i will stick to for the moment since i've had some success with it. Making macarons the french meringue way has resulted in 100% failure rate out of the three times i have tried it! But i WILL get down to making them at some point in time.

Right now, i'm going to use the italian meringue method to experiment with different flavours. I think it's going to be green tea and white chocolate soon. And i so need a macaron flavour directory right now. Whoopee!

Time to get my act together, i.e., write that dissertation. But before that! Photos of oven and stove adventures while i was/am stuck at home fighting a flu bug. I wasn't feeling too great but new gadgets/cookbooks/ideas just flirt and tempt me to the point of submission.

So here's my first attempt at making lemon meringue kisses. They turned out light, crisp and sweet! Just the way it should be... Except that they also turned out tanned, which uh, i would prefer on my skin but not on theirs. Sandwiched in between is lemon curd which i made a few hours before and refrigerated. The recipe came from my The Australian Women's Weekly Macaroon and Biscuits book that Gem bought for me. :)

Verdict: Delicious, but FULL of sugar. You need to already be able to eat handfuls of sugar without going into a hyperglycemic fit or coma to enjoy this one. Okay, i kid, but you get my drift. And because my oven is extremely unreliable, i need to ensure that i have 1 hour of my life to spare sitting in front of the oven and regulating the oven temperature. I guess making this is best suited to when i have time on my hands or when i'm already working in the kitchen handling other stuff.

My poached egg! Granted, i didn't loop off the extra wispy egg ends because i couldn't bear to waste it. But I ACTUALLY POACHED AN EGG! With the whites surrounding the yolk all pretty like that.

Yolky goop. Narm. Best on top of an english muffin with smoked salmon.

My absolute fail rose macaron. It might look like something familiar, but trust me. Although this one was the prettiest of the lot, it doesn't meet "macaron standards". The others were flat, cracked, stuck, feetless and just downright ugly that it was both funny and heart wrenching at the same time.

Verdict: It tasted nice. Well, sort of. It had that rosy flavour i love, thin, crisp layer on top and chewy insides. But most of it was stuck to my wax paper anyway. This lucky one was atop my new Silpat baking mat (love!).

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Now that i've purchased an oven thermometer (following Alton Brown's advice, though i bought the one he dislikes since i didn't have any other choice), I now realize how redonk my oven is. It explains quite a lot now!

I didn't think too much about this recipe by Pioneer Woman because i'm not a corn person. But then when i realized that i had pretty much all the main ingredients in my fridge waiting to be used up (they were leftovers from previous cooking endeavours), i thought: How PERFECT! Onions, bacons, corn, cream, broth/stock... Can't go too wrong.

So i made the corn chowder. OH. It is DELICIOUS. HOHOHO!!! I modified it of course cos i didn't have all the ingredients she stated and i also was simply just using up leftovers. It definitely doesn't look like much though. HA.

I learnt that putting parsley on top of soup ISN'T just about putting it on top!!!!!!!
The soup has to be firm/thick enough to hold the parley leaves. You have to choose the right leaves that look good to balance out the look. Enough leaf, enough stem. The soup can't be too hot, or else the edges of the leaves get cooked/soggy/etc. I'm not sure why the parsley leaves that i have had in restaurants look dry-ish, but freshly rinsed leaves that look healthy and green tend to be heavy...
As you can tell, my parsley deco is a fail. HAHA. I just thought some green would be nice for photography, even though they just look like flat 2D, green patches. HAHA.

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I love you girls. Though we definitely don't see one another frequently, i thank God for the regular meets... As rightly pointed out by Germ, i quote: "It's like when we can say, 'Didn't i tell you this the other day?', when the 'other day' could have been about 6 months ago or 1 year."
Amen.

My JC mates rank high on my list of important people in my life... I can still see snapshots or even little movies (though soundless) of the times we had walking around school and doing mundane or funny things. They walked closely with me back in the day, and i always get nostalgic remembering the times we spent together.

I remember as clear as day. When we were saying our partial goodbyes nearing the end of our JC journey, Betty came by with polaroid photos stuck to a small card and asked me to sign on it. So i did. And then i blew the whole thing up and stuck it on my room wall. It's been there for like 8 years now. I never regretted being that sentimental mush. :)

See a cute daschund ("sausage dog") somewhere? :)

This was how the top of my butter cake looked like, having cracked open on the top after being baked. Gem spotted it. The artist he is. :)