Wednesday, February 27, 2008
We passed physics olympiad!!! Hahaha yes, we're so proud of ourselves. Trying to skim through the thousand page plus book yesterday, nothing could go into my head. It was really last minute, considering we should have started 6 months ago. The content was way way beyong our understanding.
Stupid Maisie couldnt log in to her account since the start, she thought her account was expired. Then we realised that she missed out the last two letters of the course ID. We actually only worked out 10% of the questions, the rest we tried to attempt while referring to the big fat book. And then we just gave up and randomly guessed. I click option A, you try option C. Only up to the second law of thermodynamics was tested, and I tried to read though everything):
Through pure luck(: grace26/50, maisiekoh29/50. Hahah I'm so happy, although we are nowhere near getting through to the next round. In a way its good.
Splitting vanilla pod.
Spanish lavender honey vanilla bean ice cream. The honey was 50% off(: But it was still twice as expensive as house brands.
Caramelized peaches with cinnamon
Honey vanilla ice cream with caramelized peaches.
My parents have set a budget for my ingredients, which seriously sucks. Especially with inflation, prices of butter and cream have almost doubled since last year.
2:49 AM
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Flourless Chocolate hazelnut torte, and whipped cream dusted with ground hazelnuts. I think I overbaked it a little, its a bit dry for a chocolate torte. I really need to find a good queen of sheba recipe.
Saturday ballet at Mrs lim's studio. Sheryl's mum gave me and natalie a lift to kampong chai chee. Audrey and glenda also went(: There were two small girls about pri 2 who joined us for fun. Hahah they are so cute! With their frilly/sparkly leos and perfect saut. Mrs lim is the most dedicated, patient, amazing ballet teacher I've met. We pay for only 2 hours of ballet every week, but she'll always stay back or arrange for extra lessons for free. So she teaches us about 6 hours every week, just to get us on track.
Fusion 08. Yeah half the world turned up. Worship was amazing and I think Pastor Alvin chan's sermon was very meaningful. Laura and some other seniors were dancing. After that me and cheryl sat outside watching people go by.
Guess who.
12:32 AM
Thursday, February 21, 2008
PIERRE HERME IS COMING TO SINGAPORE!
Creator of the Ispahan, and most aclaimed pastry chef in France.
2:36 AM
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Pecan praline black bottom bars. I cannot ever get brownie oven temperature right.
I tried a new macaron recipe! Macarons au blanc monté. Those was the kind of macarons that I first began with, and all failed miserably. So I was hesistant to step away from macaron au sucre cuit recipe that I use all the time. The latter requires an Italian meringue and sugar syrups and precise measurements. The first kind of macarons are as simple as making dacquoise, and for the first time I viewed macarons as baking rather than some complicated chemistry ritual.
Macarons au blanc monte are unstable, maybe I failed then because I didnt have any experience in baking macarons. Macaron au sucre cuit was a bridge for me. Im not an entire convert, either, although the easier kind tastes better (though denser) because of the higher proportion of almonds.
Valrhona dark chocolate Macarons. Adapted slightly from Chef Pang's (Canele) macaron recipe.
MACARON GLACEE! Ugly pictures, ice cream isnt cooperative when it comes to photos. Yes, Im so in love, its a first try though. I think the ice cream scoops are ugly. Macarons dont freeze, with such a high proportion of sugar (hygroscopic). So they remain the same texture as they are at room temperature, and the ice cream isnt all soft when you assemble and freeze ahead of time.
Dark chocolate macarons with hazelnut gelato.
Big fat scoop of gelato.
Chocolate strawberry macarons. I filled the macarons with dark chocolate ganache and sliced strawberries. The rest of the shells were raspberry chocolate; a raspberry hidden in chocolate ganache. Except that the raspberries werent good ones. You can never find flavourful berries in a tropical country.
Black cherry ice cream. I wonder how it turns a vivid purple when cherry puree is such a dark black-red. Looks more like fresh fig ice cream, but I love it anyway(:
6:15 AM
Saturday, February 02, 2008
This year I think my pineapple tarts filling is too pineapple-ly. ): Maybe its because I added pineapple juice to the pineapples when boiling it down. Canele makes the best pineapple tarts.
Mandarin orange sorbet, served in mandarin peel. Its tastes as bright as its colour. I'm annoyed at my ice cream maker, its either I got a semi-faulty product, or its just not worth its pricetag.
Mandarins
Sorbet
Chocolate budini. Its quite a strange dessert. Its name is Italian for chocolate pudding, yet its like part molten chocolate cake, part warm chocolate mousse, and part souffle. And its ingredients bear similarity to a torte.
Masteringphysics has come back to haunt me. We are so dead.
2:23 AM
