Is that Ice cream? No, its Gelato...

Its funny how people tend to become complacent once they've stayed with a particular establishment for a long period of time that they forget that there are plenty more cuisines and dishes you can find round the world^^

I decided to make a simple gelato for the crew to try and see what they think of it. My experiment for the day - a simple lime gelato with pineapple and cucumber bits^^ This tooke me awhile to make as its been since ages since I made gelato, though I was very eager for this challenge^^

I know, some of you might say,"hey, where's the cucumber and pineapple bits?" here's the picture to prove the bits and pieces of cucumber and pineapple^^ and trust me this was really good^^

Now I have some sweet cravings-_-...

I was sooo excited with finally taking some time out, that I was in the mood of making sweets for my crew as I was worried they will miss me and the interesting foods that I tend to create on the fly(well, I think they will miss my food more then me, though you never know^^), since I'll be away for a few days^^

I was on a roll making chocolate mousse pie with macadamia nut(this one I didn't take a photo off as everyone walloped the whole thing before I could. So the next day, I was thinking along the lines of a key lime tart but at the same time, I've not had any meringue lately. The result Lemon meringue pie, with a heck load of lemon zest; because I like to be different hehe;p

I was happy with the result, though funny things about these sweet stuff they tend to taste better the next day^^ Kept some in the fridge and enjoyed them then next day much to everyone's Joy^^

Gazpacho Slush anyone?

Been experiencing some whacked out temperatures lately - its hot one minute, cold the next seriously what's going on? And it just sooo happened that day one of my cooks was asking me if I knew how to make a Gazpacho and I was craving something cold and savory(seriously feel like I've outgrown the sweet stuff hehe) I decided to make some but with a twist^^

Its surprising how the crew in the restaurant reacted to it as they were expecting something sweet when clearly if you take a whiff of it you would know that it's gonna be a savory treat^^ You hear people saying interesting, or this is very wrong, though I tell them they've yet to really travel round let alone experience different cuisines for them to judge^^

I was really happy with the product, Gazpacho Slush with Chilli & Raisin 'Caviar'(though if I were allowed to use some sherry to bring out the sweetness of the tomatoes and peppers it would've been great^^). I finished 3 bowls of it by myself hehe;p

Finally a spark of creativity!!

I was feeling peckish the other day, and the only thing I was really craving for were some caramelised onions (I feel that I'm gonna get addicted to this again, considering the last time with pandan...).

So I decided to make some to abate the craving and soon enough my mind was drifting to finding ways of creating a dish that could go well with this very very simple and delicious item^^ I remembered stephanie from top chef made an infused tea pizza for her challenge and well my mind found it^^

My tea infused, caramelised & bacon pizza. Its a little sweet and savory, packs a nice tang from the tannins of the tea and i had this huge grin on my face because of how well this dish came together^^

Frozen fruits anyone?

Recently my fridge has been giving me problems, firstly, the thermostat got busted and melted its wires out, and then its fan motor just wouldn't go. Now it seems like it really likes to keep my vegetables in a frozen state so that it stays 'fresh' till you take it out of the fridge - go figure-_-...

Whee! look at my frozen cherry tomatoes hahahaha;p

First Dish Created in my new Apartment

People would've expected a huge pot roast, or maybe a complicated and interesting dish for my first dish in my new apartment, unfortunately I was short on utensils and ingredients so all I only managed to create was a salad^^

Simplicity at its best, a baby spinach salad with vine & sun dried tomatoes tossed with kalamata olives and dried cranberries drizzled with aged balsamico;p

Cheese stuffed Burger

This was something I made a couple of months back when work started getting hectic, my boss approached me on an idea about making a burger where the cheese would be stuffed inside so that when you bite into it the melted cheese would oooze out^^

It looks ridiculously huge huh? hehe;p Well its not, just that I took and extremely closeup shot of it - how would you guys like to look at the fillings?

Looks yummy, though I couldn't try it since I've not taken beef for 7years now, its the only protien that I can't take anymore, sad, I know, but the feedback from those who ate the burger was priceless - YUM!!

A loooong Absence-_-..

So sorry guys, been a heck of a loooong time since I've updated, and yes, I know I should at least keep you guys posted, though working through a 70hr work shift doesn't really leave much time for creativity and the such^^

Well enough of complaining now back to blogging since January hehe;p

Late Night Supper...

This was a fun gathering considering its been a loooooooong while since most of the group has caught up, everyone was always busy and had their own commitments so it was nice that, Jason, Keong, Selina & I manage to catch up and have a little supper and guess who ended up cooking?

Yes, you guessed it - me! hehe;p Though the menu idea came from Jason, he mentioned he wanted to try a very spicy spaghetti, fish & chips and a dessert, I set my brain to work in coming up with a viable menu for the four of us to try^^

Roughly round 3ish in the afternoon, I told Jason I got the menu planned and managed to coax Keong to join us because he said he was bored on his off day (sometimes I wonder what this friend of mine does when he's busy - bored on you off day? I always find that I don't have enough time during my off days!! Hahaha;p)

We all met up round 9ish and so I set off to start with the first dish; I was initially planning on making some double boiled soup, however we've been experiencing very hot weather, I decided against it and just start of with my own version of Spaghetti Arabiatta - its suppose to be like a spicy tomato sauce for spaghetti. My version is a simple mix of black olives, chilli padi, chopped parsley, garlic, salmon and sun-dried cherry tomatoes(which I made myself^^)

Not too spicy, not too sweet, I think it was just a nice mix, though Jason commented it could have been spicier (you and me both, however Selina & Keong might pass out from the heat hehe;p next time I'll make it to our heat level; now that reminds me where did I hide those poblano peppers, that's a guarantee to give us that necessary kick hahaha;p)

Moving on, I was inspired to create this dish and try it out; and since someone has to be fit while serving his nation, I'm not mentioning who hehe;p; I thought why not make a fish and chip which is less fattening and more tasty. My solution- take some leftover sourdough bread crumbs, dry it out, pulverise it and coat the fish fillets with egg wash, bread it and grill it^^ And I'll throw in a side of deconstructed Tzatziki with Cherry Tomato Confit to give it that refreshing bite for more. The only guilty part of this dish would have to be the home made fries, which I accidentally burnt (sorry guys T-T)

Dessert was a fun part, its a play on the bread and butter pudding I made with the pandan cream mix, I remembered the last time I made it it tasted something like Kaya Toast, which you could find in the Kopitiams here and I decided to name it Kaya Toast, re-imagined^^ it was fun as everyone was kinda unsure of what the dish really was (the three of them must have thought I've gone abit left field hahaha;p)

However I must say it was an interesting dessert (clarified butter as the sauce, are you kidding me?!? hahaha) for me to try and hopefully try to incorporate to my work one day^^

I hoped you guys enjoyed the impromptu supper, it was fun, maybe next time Keong can think of the menu and Selina can cook it hehe;p

I'm Addicted to the Color GREEN!!!

I've never thought I would come to this; and moreover for a fact I always was a skeptic when chefs mention that there will be times when you come across simple ingredients that you fall in love with the ingredient and it become an obsession... I'm admitting my obsession to the wonderful screwpine leaf or for those of you who know its most common name - the pandan leaf^^

I've only become obsessed with this since I recalled Lady Fa once mentioning she made her Sri Muka's with the juices of the pandan leaf and the result is always spectacular and so I decided to give it a try (albiet not making sri muka but just testing her theory) and look what happened!!! I was just telling Ange the other day that I made green pancakes from breakfast, and no, its not the usual commercial mixing batter, I made it with the classic recipe which is basically a simple souffle batter with extra flour^^ Lo and behold!

I kid you not, its green on the inside too^^ and the thing is that with the natural coloring, its sooooo guilt free^^ Ange was saying St. Patrick's day is still long off so what was up, and I did say I was testing a theory hehe;p

Moving on, since I had some of the juices left, I thought I might as well try and incorporate it into a classic English dish - the bread and butter pudding... you can only guess what happened...

See how addicted I am to this pandan leaf, its kinda my new nicotine kick hahaha;p Now I'm thinking of reinventing the very well known Thai dish - Pandan chicken, what can I say but "Green much?" hahaha;p

Back from my short Sabbatical

Refreshed from my short 3day vacation, and surprisingly that the weekend has been quite slow, I got plenty of energy to spare that I ended up creating not one but two dishes at work today^^

The first dish is kinda like a reminiscent of when I could really eat beef (I don't consume beef anymore for those of you who should know if ever I do have to have dinner at your plcae^^, well its more due to religous reasons, though people have argued that I should be able to close one eye and be fine with it since I work in this field, I would just tell you that its just not me^^).

Moving on, I was butchering my Ribeye slab and I found that I had some trimmings (my cooks don't like it when I'm on Butcher station since I always save most of the scraps and have next to no wastage when I'm portioning the meat hehe;p) I decided to make some kebabs for my cooks since they were kinda down that I had not given them much for wastage( oh, how my bosses would love me now hahaha)^^

Its an irony when I look at it that I don't consume beef anymore, I somehow have gotten better at cooking it just by looking at its texture and smell; I know some of you might disagree but I know I'm good:) If I had the photos of the doneness(didn't get the chance for a photo op, cooks completely devoured it) inside the kebab you'll know I'm right^^

Then came the afternoon, I was feeling peckish for something sweet... and I ended up making....

My no recipe "REAL PANDAN" Souffle^^ Well its called no recipe(in case you guys are wondering) because I completely forgotten my ratios (and I just remembered a tip from lady Fa about natural food colorings) for the recipe that I decided to just whack it and hope for the best. And I can say it turned out really well, and I managed to have some leftover batter which made fluffly pancakes:) I've got some leftover pandan juice in the chiller and I'm gonna whip up more of the batter for pancakes tomorrow hehe;p

Talk about ouch!!

This is what happens when my thumb wanted to say hi to the pavement, enough said hahaha;p

Just an update, its still recovering though I think it likes the pain and it was very amusing thta I didn't realise it was bleeding till later on hahaha;p

Green Eggs Anyone?

This dish was done a looooong while back and I'll say it been like a couple of months now, just that I've only gotten the free time of posting this on my blog hehe;p

I was working breakfast shift one day and I thought lets play around and see what I came up with? and I remember hearing and watching people make green eggs before and no, its not rotten eggs people hahaha;p

The eggs didn't turn out as green as I liked beacuse we only had frozen spinach in the kitchen hehe;p I wish I had some fresh spinach and some fresh herbs to kinda bring some "oomph" to the dish.

All in all, I was quite happy with this dish, though you can count on the fact that I'll be finding ways to improve it though^^

New Year, New Resolution - Not!!

Boy, time sure does fly when you're not really looking at the clock and your churning out orders day in and day out; and poof what do you know, its 2010 already hahaha;p

Yes I know I'm kinda way fa behind on the New Years greetings and all, but those that know me know very well how much I'm not in tune with the festivities anyway because of the work haha;p

Well I got some free time the other day and I thought I might as well get some shopping done and I've been eyeing this beautiful procelain knife since the first time I laid eyes on it - pricey little thing it is and everyone thinks I've gone off my knockers when I went to get it, however to me its once of the best things I've ever bought for myeslf^^

Pretty aint it? And it only cost me just over $200 hehe;p

Now, I'm looking at this other knife from Wushtof which has been made with Japanese input, and this one is roughly $350ish^^

Well you guys be the judge bout what I spend on, I find it funny sometimes that I don't spend on clothes and gadgets, instead I only spend more on cook books, knives, good food and wines^^