Quote of the day

We should look for someone to eat and drink with

before looking for something to eat and drink,

for dining alone is leading the life of a lion or wolf.

- Aphorisms (circa 300 BC), Epicurus

The plan is..

True Friends, good food and fashion.

Necessity is the mother of Invention. But when it becomes incestuous and they both mate then comes a grand idea.

It's hard to find good food which is affordable and delicious. It's almost impossible to find a restaurant that makes us comfortable like our own home. It's like squeezing blood from a stone to get people to dress up these days for dinner parties. It's vistually impossible for good friends and new friends to gather together for something as simple as dinner.

What if, a group of friends, whom are passionate about food and some have food as their lifeblood and careers, what if they come together and have a Easter gathering. They could start at the furthest point for pre-dinner drinks and hors douvres, then move onto the next house for main courses and then to a resort-style condo for dessert and finally cap off the night with after dinner drinks at a friend's new place in the heart of the city.

So the plan is just that.

Four weeks from now, on the second weekend of Easter, hopefully this too will come to pass.

Easter marks a new beginning, rebirth, new life. Something for the inner gourmet to look forward to and hope for the fashion dis-inclined to be bedecked in the latest spring fashions. Spring, Easter, pastel colours never looked so fresh. And who knows, for those with the yesteryear memories or borrow notions of Easter Egg hunts, it might just be your night.

Happy Easter to all bunnies and chicks everywhere.

Last call at the bar.

There's an old lady mopping up the floor
spills from the whole night gone in a flash
Chairs are upturned onto tables
Ashtrays cleaned and stacked up neatly on the service station
The show's over
All the glitter swept away with the dust
All the excitement flushed down with used tissue paper

It was a ride,
it was drama
it was lust, temptation, utterly selfgiving and severely heart rending

It was good, it was fortifying and fun loving
reckless, responsible, rollercoaster ride.

It's done,
the last drop of drink has been drunk and what's more
the last sips of melted ice slurped dry from the rock glass

Where to now?
A new show? A new bar?
Out on the sidewalk in the cold, in the heat, in the rain?

You choose.
No, I'll choose
I choose liberty, I choose not to choose now.

What else can a pastry cook say?

Here's a good one. The recipe is always in my head. I like making one big cake. Don't worry it will sink in the middle because there's no flour in the recipe but that just means that the cavity can be filled with cream whipped with icing sugar and vanilla beans. It's delicious in it's dark silkiness. Best eaten with yoghurt ice cream and caramel sauce.


Soft Chocolate Cake

450g Cream
580g Dark Chocolate (Preferrably 66% cocoa mass)

9nos. Egg Yolk
6tsp Cornflour

9nos Egg WHite
150g Honey

Bring the Cream to the boil and pour onto dark chocolate stirring til it's all smooth

In another bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and cornflour till it's smooth. Combine the two mixtures

In a clean dry mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites together with the honey until soft peaks form. Fold this meringue into the Chocolatey Yolk mixture

Pour into a buttered and floured tin and bake at 170C for 15 - 20 minutes.

Dreams desserts and vanilin dung

Recently a plethora of friends' dreams have been coming true or about to come true. A good friend finally got her job overseas albeit the work visa problems, another friend is finally getting work and striving toward working for her uncle in London. One more good friend might have his dream restaurant up and running sooner than you can say "Have you got a liquor licence?"" This puts me into thinking what are my dreams? Where has my work led me? I've got a good job which although doesn't pay vast amounts of cash it does however expose me to a whole range of things, products and concoctions about pastry that I could only dream of if I were to work somewhere else locally. I'd love to own my own place. Great food and great service. Non-pretentious and secluded.

It would be fantastic and challenging to come up with the food, simple bistro fare and fantastic desserts. Summer berry terrines and chocolate caramel ice creams. Jade coloured pistachio and jet black sesame seed macaroons. Savoury bread and butter pudding with chunks of brioche, melted cheese and bacon. Pumpkin seed bread and milky butter loaves.

What with all the advances of food technology today we could create a whole new menu which challenges the boundaries of cuisine. Dessert first, main's last? Who knows? Even the Japanese scientists have come up with a method to extact vanillin (vanilla extract) from cow dung. They assure us it would be used for soaps and shapooos only because it wouldn't be profitably acceptable or socially feasible to have it in food. But it's okay to put it on our bodies and in our hair? Maybe room fresheners? Make your room smelling of the sweet vanilla of cow dung extract! What's next? Beer distilled from Kobe beef cows since they're drinking it already.

This isn't going anywhere... my dreams are on "slow" at the moment til I sort out my current life situation. Til then I'll keep on making beautiful and delicious desserts along with ice cream which you can slice with a paring knife easily because nothing less of perfection is expected in the Lost Horizon.....

Adieu.

A note on good food.

You know when friends ask you to go out to someplace new to eat, you're just a little bit apprehensive. But when your chef friends (and by Chef I mean people who work in the kitchens) say let's go eat, I'll bring you to someplace nice. You better bring your stretchable pants.

Pizza Uno is a non prentious little bistro. Not trying to be uppity and service was prompt and friendly. They have those lil italian soft drinks which is so hard to find here. Limonata, Aranchiata and Chinotto.

We had the marinated mushrooms which was really to die for,served with chewy bread to soak up the garlic and chilli infused oil. It was fantastic to start with. The Calamares Fritos was also good. The calamari was tender on the inside and crunchy on the outside. We also had a go with the Aglio Olio with grilled prawns. That was fantastic. and at RM23.00 per plate it was worth it. The pasta was aldente *thank goodness SOMEone can do it right* and the prawns were aromatic and succulent. The garlic slices, which I'm usually not a big fan of, were positively melting on the tongue and the chilli flakes packed a nice punch. We ordered the Pollo Romeo Pizza which had chicken, black olives, cherry tomatoes and pineapple. That was alright and then there was the Seafood Paella which although was good really tested the strength of our waistbands.

Of course talk centered on food. What else would chefs talk about? The best place for sunday brunch which features eggs, ham, sauteed mushrooms, grilled tomatoes, brioche, coffee and orange juice (it's a toss up between La Bodega and Bakerzin both in Bangsar) and the best gelato available here. (Hands down it goes to Lecka Lecka). The best cakes in town (We still believe they're the best at Shangri-la) and the best Sweedish Meatballs (not at Ikea but at Puzzini Pizza in Uptown)

We talked about how we made our herb infused oils and chili flakes made with chili padi from Sabah. We pondered on triple layered moarsmallows, using the gorgeous jade coloured pistachios to grind up and make macaroons. We want to sandwich hazelnut ganache between nougat discs and dip themin dark chocolate and we talked about how to make the best creme brulee. Soft and meltingly tender inside and covered with a golden burnished crust of demerara sugar on top. It's like cracking your way into heaven in a ramekin.

All the talk made us all the more hungry and all the more eager to go out and do dinner again.

Soon.

Any takers?

Chickchickchickchick CHICKEN

The Chicken Song

Hold a Chicken in the air

stick a deck chair up your nose

Buy a jumbo jet

and then bury all your clothes

Paint your left knee green

and extract your wisdom teeth

Casserole your Gran

and Pretend your name is Keith

If the H5N1 bird flu virus really strikes this part of the world in a big way then I might be out of a job. Can you imagine a pastry kitchen without eggs? Can you imagine breakfast without eggs? Can you imagine how dull and foamless ckes would be without eggs? What about macaroons? ~sighs~ What we have taken for granted. Chicken, the safe meat. The meat that most everyone in the world can eat and not have to think about religious consequences (except for devout Catholics on Fridays) is losing popularity.

Egg prices have dropped by a few cents to encourage buying. Sales of freshly slaughtered fowl is on the decline. The local government is having a Kempen Makan Ayam (Eat Chicken Campaign) for goodness sakes. We pish-toshed when the Thai government had a cabinet meeting and served disease-free chicken dishes. And now it's seemingly close. Outbreak in Gombak, although contained, is still too close too home. There's an LRT stop at Gombak for goodness sakes! God forbid someone infected might just ride on the train to KLCC, sneeze and lo and behold we're infected right in the middle of KL.

It all sounds bleak and scary but I for one am not going to stop patronising KFC (if not only for their dreamy kitschy cheezy wedges) or ordering "burger ayam double special".

I was having lunch with a part timer at work the other day and he was eating just veggies and rice (the meat for the day was roasted honey chicken) and he didn't want to eat it.

Wayne: You're eating chicken. Aren't you worried?
Me: Worried about what? the bird flu? Forget about it.
Wayne: Waaa you don't want to live anymore ha?
Me: It's not that. But I'm not afraid to die. ~grin~

For proponents of chicken I say lets have kai fun (chicken rice) now! We'll dress up in fathers and eat em up real fast. We'll savour the taste of succulent roasted thighs and breaded and crumbed fried chicken chop.

I LOVE ANIMALS

they taste great