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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Monday, January 30, 2012

As a fresh grad, I find it hard to find inspiration at times during my work hours but what I always refer back to are the basic principles of composition and design. Thats why I decided to revisit a receipe that I have done before.

These are my Chewy Chocolate Chip Quinoa Cookies

When I say back to basics, these cookies to me are the soul elementary finger foods that I grew up with. They are the treats that trigger many emotions and including memories. I had to share them with my co workers because no cookie receipe says "serves for 1."

=) Enjoy.

Friday, January 27, 2012

You guys are in for a real treat, below is my cotton soft japanese cheesecake! What a crazy eye candy. Heres how you make it. And don't forget to follow me on twitter now. @hellodanielchoi (Yes, I finally got twitter)

Cotton Soft Japanese Cheesecake


140g/5 oz. fine granulated sugar
6 egg whites
6 egg yolks
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
50g/2 oz. butter
250g/9 oz. cream cheese
100 ml/3 fluid oz. fresh milk
1 tbsp. lemon juice
60g/2 oz. cake flour /superfine flour
20g/1 oz. cornflour (cornstarch)
1/4 tsp. salt


Instructions:
1. Melt cream cheese, butter and milk over a double boiler. Cool the mixture. Fold in the flour, the cornflour, egg yolks, lemon juice and mix well.

2. Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Add in the sugar and whisk until soft peaks form.

3. Add the cheese mixture to the egg white mixture and mix well. Pour into a 8-inch round cake pan (Lightly grease and line the bottom and sides of the pan with greaseproof baking paper or parchment paper).

4. Bake cheesecake in a water bath for 1 hours 10 minutes or until set and golden brown at 160 degrees C (325 degrees F).


Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Happy new year my friends! This is such a late night post but I can't go to sleep, I think I slept way to much. I was trying to go to sleep but then there was this sudden loud bang sound downstairs, scared me for a second here. Turned out, it was just a painting that fell down.

It was a long / short day today, first started off with the tradional dim sum then dinner at home. I will post up pictures soon but for now, let's use our imagination. The chinese food was great but I got so use to eating french cuisines at big dinner parties like these. Each dish of course portrayed a specific type of emotion or "luck". The shrimp was meant for "happiness", the noodles is meant for long life and there were others that I do not know or at least I don't remember.

Anywho, the turn out in terms of people wasn't as much as I expected it to be. Some people missing but that is alright, they were here in spirit.

Post pictures soon. =)
Can't get it out of my head.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Here we are with another winner. Maple roasted chicken breast. If you like honey garlic wings, than you will like this. I was scared that inside would be very dry and tasteless but to my surprise, it wasn't at all. It was very tender and moist, full of sweet maple syrup. Here's what you need.

Maple Roast chicken breasts:
Maple syrup
Garlic
Breasts
salt & pepper
vinegar

Marinate it for 1-6 hours and you will be golden. I only had an hour to spare so I did this pretty fast but still, it tasted very sweet and was enjoyed by many. Here are some eye candies. =)

Wish you here.

 
christmas is long gone now =( till next year! =)

Monday, January 16, 2012

Hello! Ah, I finally got the kitchen all to myself. My grandma stepped out and had to take care of my cousin for the past week, so I took advantage of this and decided to cook some stuff. Since the winter days are getting colder and colder, I decided to make a warm potato soup from Olson's book. This soup was quite the basic type but is packed with flavours that will make you crave for more. The only thing bad about this is that, its very fattening. You use the bacon fat to cook the leeks, then add potatoes and sour cream.

Potato soup with Bacon & Cheddar
bacon diced
leeks
potatoes diced
chicken stock
thyme
sour cream
salt and pepper
old cheddar cheese
chives


My uncle, mom and sister had some and they all wanted seconds. The bacon bits, cheddar cheese and chives add the finishing touches to this amazing soup. This was kind of like Oliver's french onion soup but with meat.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Poached salmon and Proper tomato salad, what to say about this dish. Hmmm. I always wanted to try this receipe out with the old man but then I decided to skip my first experience with him and try it out myself. Everything seemed very uncertain and cloudy but in a good way, since I have done this before. I jumped into it knowing that I would probably fail but its okay. Confidence is key.

What annoyed me the most was the amount of time it took for the big pot of water to boil, it took so long and I was getting hungry and impatient. As I dropped everything in, I had a feeling that it was going to be bland and it turned out to be just that. I didn't add any stock at all and for some reason I thought it as going to be okay. Oh well, nothing salt and pepper can't fix. =)

The tomato salad was the most rewarding, it tasted exactly how I remembered it from last year. Very straight forward and packed with flavours. This is a must try to tomato lovers. =)


Poached Salmon (off the top of my head)
celery sticks
carrots
onion
white wine
tomatoes
fennel blub
salmond steaks
celery stalks (which I forgot to add)
sea salt
pepper
thyme
basil


Proper tomato Salad
a big handful of mixed tomatoes
sea salt
pepper
garlic
balsamic vinegar
olive oil
basil




That is all for now but I come baring with good news. I found that fire that was once lost, I knew this day was going to come. I'm glad there's sunlight now. Good job!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Having faith is important my friends. People say how do you believe something that you cant even see, touch or smell? Well its almost the same thing when you say we have a brain. We cant see it, touch it or smell it. But we believe that we have a brain. Have faith my friends and continue doing what you do best. =)

Always believe.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Blah had such a bad night yesterday so I decided to take it out on baking. Long story short, my church basketball team and I lost to a team that we beat before. We lost by a lot and everyone was very bitter including myself.

I wanted to try this a long time ago but didn't have the time to (or maybe I am just too lazy). Here it goes.

base
all purpose flour
sugar
unsalted butter

lemon layer
half cream cheese room temp
sugar
all purpose flour
lemon zest
baking powder
lemon juice
eggs


I got out my cake stand mixer to prepare for the big project but then it only needed a food processor. If you refer to the pictures below, my processor is as small as a lunch box. Near the end I decided to transfer over to the big mixer to blend the rest of the eggs.

I tasted it a bit this morning and the filling was bang on, it was just like Anna's but just a little thinner. My suggestion is to actually use a 8x8 inch baking pan, I kinda cheated and used a 9 x 13. I am definately too cheap. Haha.

I will upload more pictures in a bit!


I need to find that fire in me again...its burning but turning blue.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Happy new year my friends! I know I haven't followed up on my pictures but I have been posting! I baked all the goods here for a new year's eve party for my friend.

I baked my signature fruit meringue (jamie oliver), brownies (anna olson) and chocolate meltaways (anna olson). You can refer to my old postings regarding the ingredients and procedures. I got a lot of feedback regarding the brownies on how sweet they are but I really like it like that and I think they are fine. Maybe 2 cups of sugar is really a bit too much. The cookies were a bit odd, I did everything the book told me to and the "soft dough" didn't come together until I added 3 egg yolks. Maybe I didn't have enough butter? I will explore this again.

I need you guys to do me a favor and encourage me to bake more, I feel that I some how lost that passion a bit to bake and instead, it just seems like a bit like a chore to me. I use to bake everyday or at lease cook and actually enjoy it. I need to look for that passion again.

Sometimes I just don't get it, its always a surprise and it hits me in the weirdest way. Well either way, I will not be shaken and I will always believe like I always have. I will cook/bake my way to the good life if I have to. =)

Cheers my friends! =) =) =)