Best afternoon tea I ever had in HK

Well, all of you know I enjoyed my stay in Sydney and also like hanging out with the friends I have known there. So when I know Cecilia will be coming back to Hong Kong and I have some free time before my busy teaching schedule starts, I decided to come HK to look for her and some others (Gerald, Ervin and etc.)

This time round, I decided to stay in HK Island instead. Reasoning being, I seldom explore this part of HK and it is close to the exhibition centre where the wine fair will be held. I regretted it as the hotel I chose was not as convinent as I think it is :P Well, that is another story.

My 1st day here was fun.... I did not plan anything so when Gerald told me that there was a wine fair for consumers, I decided to go. So after landing, have my lunch and nap, I went to the fair. It was packed full of people. I was surprise it was so BIG!!! Really, everywhere was packed and being a Sunday and last day of the fair, well, not surprise. After which I met my friend Ervin for dinner with his wife and his friend from Sinagpore as well. The dinner was good, steamboat!! hehehe Anyway, we headed for Felix after that. For those who like to chill, this is a place to go when you are in HK, not cheap but good view and atmosphere.

2nd day was normal for me. A day trip to Big Buddha. A sort of must go place when I am in HK. There I have my fav breakfast and lunch. Dao Hua for breakfast, vegetarian lunch at the temple. Yummy.... On my way back to the hotel, I discover this little shop selling bread and egg tart. Seeing that there was a queue in the morning, I bought some back to try. One bite of that egg tart, I wished I had bought more.... It was really the best I had in all my trips to HK.

So today, after shopping at Causeway Bay, I went back to that shop to get more egg tart. Now it is even better, because they are freshly out of the oven. I can still see the custard wobble. It is like liquid gold in front of me. Of course, there was already a queue there waiting for it and when everyone see that big tray, all just rush forward to await their egg tarts.

Now, you must be wondering where is this place. It is at causeway bay, near time square. A little shop all Leighton. It is next to another bakery call Queen's. Visit there when you are in HK. It is the only thing that make staying at HK Island side worthwhile :P

Sausages in the making

Ok, I promise to update my blog regularly and here is the 1st. I have this crazy idea to make sausages a few weeks ago. This idea stayed in my head for a few weeks. Everytime I think about it, I tell myself:"No, it is too much work." But it just keep coming back. So on Sunday, I ordered the sausage casing from my market butcher, on impulse. HAhahaha He told me it is going to be a lot of work as I have to wash and clean it myself. Thinking that is should not be so different from what we were given in school, I told him it is ok.

On Tuesday, I went to collect the casing that I have ordered on Sunday. To my surprise, it looks nothing like what we were given in school. Instead it looks like this

I was told to wash the outside clean, then rinse the inside with water 3 times. After which I have to turn it inside out and wash it again. Then I am to use a spoon to scrape it clean, followed by washing with salt and white vinegar. The process is long and tiring and not something I want to do again. Plus your hands stink. ( I was at a talk after making these sausages. Just what? My hands are so smelly that I can smell them throughout the talk. I really smell like a walking intestine. I am so embarrass that I sat further from others. When I reach home, i scrub my hands with lemon and now it is better.) Anyway, good thing my maid is around and she offers to do the rest for me. The next photo is the cleaned casing. A word of advice, get the cleaned ones. It may be more expensive but it is worth it.:P


Next I prepare the meat for mincing. I was using the kitchen aid mincer. Another advice, get the butcher to mince the meat.

I added some herb, spices, salt, garlic and shallots......

A taste test to see if the seasoning is good..... which turns out YUMMY!!

This is how I pipe my sausage. No need to get those expensive equipment. All you need is a disposable piping bag and a nozzle.

My big plate of sausages ready to be cooked.

Cooked sausages ready to be eaten :P

This is a very good challenge for me. It really make me appreciates people who make sausages. After this challenge, I will still continue to make sausages, but this time, I will get those cleaned casing to save me all the trouble. :P

Back in Singapore

Hello everyone!! Yes I know, I have gone missing for the last few months. :P My excuse is, I have been busy. Well, I have graduated from LCB Sydney, so I am considered to be a qualified chef.

Last few months was moving really in fast pace for me.... My last 3 months in LCB passed so fast that I am also not sure what I have done. So now, I am testing all my recipes from school again and also some other recipes from different place. Beside that, I am also teaching baking at Palate Sensations. My 1st classes was in Sept. I really enjoyed it as it brings back me good memories for me.

There are many photos to show you all but not sure what is it that you all are interested in. Please drop me some comments on what you like to see and I will do my best to update more often. Well, here are some of the things I have done since I came back... enjoy... while I go and make cheesecake for my brother's birthday tomorrow and my dad's special request.

P.S: Sorry but I am not that good with writing blogs :P

Back!!! hehehe

Hiya,
I know it has been a long time. So sorry as I have been busy with school work. This term's timing does not give me as much free time as last term. Also there are more things to read up on. Ok, I shall not bore you with too much details as I have quite a number of photos to post. :P

Vanilla Horns, Mailanderli and jam cookies

A tray full of Piped shortbread (yummy)

Biscotti, chocolate macaroons and piped shortbread

A tray of macaroons

All these cakes are from Guylian cafe at the rocks. Dori, who worked there, brought in for us to try.

Chef's tray of goodies


Brasilia

Alan's Brasilia


Raspberry sorbet and vanilla icecream on meringue

Bombe Alaska (not flamed)

Chef's ice cream plating

Chef's ice cream plating

Chef's ice cream plating


Chef's ice cream plating

My opera cake

Opera from the side

Croquembouche (french wedding cake)

Chef's caramel flower

I know I have been missing for a long time and sorry to bomb so many photos. Some of these photos are my work, some are not. Hope you enjoy them as much as before. :P

Hot Cross Bun, Baklava, Apple Strudel and Danish Pastry

Hello!!!!! Life is so much better in pastry class. I think now I can safely tell people that I enjoy pastry more than Cuisine. Last term when my friends asked me, which one do I prefer. I seriously did not know the answer then. Now, I can say, I do better in Pastry. Maybe the chef who is guiding us is the big influence for this answer. Anyway, that is for another time.

This week was a busy busy week. Lots of fun too. We made something different. As you can see from the topic, those are the items we made this week. :P All these are actually rather easy to make but yet still taste very yummy :P Baklava is not popular in Singapore as it is too sweet and oily. But if you take a small bite with tea, it is rather nice. I like it but in small quantity. It is easy, just that there are a number of small details to follow. Hot Cross buns are many people's fav. It is tasty, especially when it is still warm and served with ice cold salted butter :)~

We did a strudel dough as well. And made an apple strudel with it. Strudel dough is very much like our roti prata actually :P It is baked instead of pan fried. Then come the interesting lesson, highlight of the week. Danish pastry. The dough is similiar to crossiant dough, just that it is sweeter. We have a Danish chef teaching us Danish pastry...Imagine the fun. He showed us many different designs, some he says is not common here. :P ok here are the photos.

Apple Strudel fresh from oven

To feed all the hungry students :P



Close up

Hot cross buns

Big tray of Hot cross buns


Baklava (cigar style)

Baklava

Danish pastry, what Danish have for tea


Danish Pastry, what they have for breakfast

Week 2 , 3 and 4 of cuisine.

I am really lagging in my blog. There is also another reason, this term's cuisine class is not as exciting. Maybe it is the chef that is teaching us this term. We have the same chef on Mon and Tue and a different chef for Wed. I can tell you, all of us are looking forward to Wed only. It is like thunderstorm for Mon and Tue and finally we see the sunshine on Wed. This is what it feels like on every Mon to Wed. :P

I will not talk more about it as there is really nothing much to talk. Most of us feel that we are throwing money away the way this chef is teaching us. It is like steamboat for most lesson. Just throw everything together within the given time. :P The only time I am really learning is on Wed. The chef is really a good 1, making us work harder but more than willing to do that. Ok here are the photos for the past few weeks.

Warm Apple Tart

Duck breast stuffed with mushroom

Duck Leg Pot au Feu

Salmon Fantasia

Lobster Americaine

Rabbit Parcel

Cream of garlic soup with Tape'nade


Patissiere Cream Flan

Saute of Chicken Basque

Raspberry crepe with mint sabayon

Poached veal fillet

Tian of roasted tomatoes with glazed onions

Roasted Quail with Glazed Vegetables

Poppy Seed Syrup Cake

Mignon of Venison with Cherry Sauce

Tulip Basket with Lemon Cream

Stuffed Squid A La Provencal

Bouillabaisse

Tarts and plated desserts

Hello... hehehe I know I am late in my blogging. Been busy lately. As I have mentioned before, my timetable this term is very different. Leaving me with not much of free time beside Sundays. Ok enough for this.

Time really files this time. I have already finished 4 weeks for pastry class. I can hardly believe it. The whole of week 3 is tart, torte and more tarts. Hahahaha Sounds boring right, imagine that I had done 5 different tarts in 1 week for both cuisine and pastry. Here, I will only list those I had done in pastry. To know what tarts I did in cuisine, look at my cuisine blog next :P

Ok, here it goes. Thursday was Linzer Torte. It is rather nice actually. I love it but on the sweet side. It has clove and cinnamon in it, both my fav. Then we did a Blueberry and Raspberry Almond Flan... nothing special, yes I know. Just that we have not done frangipane before in pastry, so we have to do it. :P

Linzer Torte


Berries Almond Flan

Friday was more interesting as we did Gateau St Honore. My fav so far.... really yummy and not too sweet. It is rather pretty too with all the small choux pastry around it. And making that spun sugar was fun. It was not as difficult as I thought it will be, not messy too.

Gateau St Honore

Well for Saturday... can say it is fun but boring at the same time. Hehehehe We did a Concorde Gateau, which is made of meringue and chocolate mousse. It is rather pretty if you did it well. The other is a tart.... chocolate tart :P

Chocolate Tart

Concorde Gateau

Well, week 4 is slightly more exciting. We are doing plated desserts. For me, it may not be somthing new as we had done it in Cuisine as well. But I was wrong. There are some difference in the way they do plating. Maybe because in Patisserie we have more the to do plating, so we can do different things to go with it. While in cuisine we are always rushing for time. Most important was to get it out fast and look presentable.

We did some common plated desserts. Such as Creme Caramel, Baked Cherry Souffles, Raspberry Bavarois, Buttermilk Panna Cotta, Chocolate Mousse and Hot Chocolate Sauce Pudding (which is also known as Chocolate Fondant Cake) Here are the photos, enjoy :P