Bouncy, juicy and springy beefballs

Bo` viên just the way I like them. I made the first batch of 500 grams of beef mince to test out this marvelous recipe and it turned out better than my expectation for my very first attempt. I forgot to add 2 and 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder for my second and more substantial attempt and the balls were much more compact, spring-less and not bouncy at all. The key for me is the baking powder and the steps. I will be recreating this recipe again.

One hit wonder

Shrek has a penchance for repeating what he knows best.

His most reliable and oft go-to recipe is as follows

Take any red meat : rabbit, lamb, sheep, goat or capri etc

Brown the meat

Deglace with red wine

add chopped onions, carrots and laurier together with some beef stock

Let it simmer away til the meat is tenderised.

There you have it voilà Shrek's most proud concoction!

First cheesecake

I procured my first cheesecake and one which employed 0% fat cream cheese*. I was a bit worried because cream cheese with 0 % fat does not usually bode well for a cake but I was pleasantly surprised. I will however buy full fat cream cheese in the future for a more thoroughly satisfying mouth-feel. The texture with full fat cannot be replicated with zero fat cheese.

I am quite surprised how easy it was to procure a cheesecake, not a lot of effort went into it other than beating eggs with sugar, cream cheese, crème fraîche and mixing, pouring into a suitable cake pan/mould and baking followed by chilling (preferably overnight) . So there you have it steps of cheesecake making in a sentence.

* see the entry for 'Male shopper'

Mozzarella bliss or better yet dopage par fromage

We are on an endeavour Shrek and I : an important fromage booster.

Let me clarify : our kids have low probability of being super tall or even tall because Shrek has inherited the 'short genes' from his maternal family. It is a dominant gene. I am of average height. We have thus decided that in order to give our four kids the best possible chance and opportunity to outgrow us their parents and forebearers it is of utmost importance that we boost their cheese intake. I like to refer to it as the 'Cheesy booster'. Our kids do not readily eat cheese eventhough we have access to an abundance of tasty cheeses, a shame really. We are trying at all costs to keep on giving them fromages. Tonight they could not stop popping 'perles de mozzarella' into their mouths. Let's see if that episode repeats itself. I am not entirely fond of mozza myself as I find it bland and utterly boring and tasteless but if my kids can eat cartons of it I am game.

Dopage par fromage : the cheese intake will stimulate growth and maintain strong bones and teeth.

Mes enfants ont pris le goût pour certains fromages: pour l'instant mozza et Fol Epi. C'est contradictoirement ironique car ces fromages qu'ils aiment et rafalent sont pas très goûteux dans mon opinion. Ils aiment aussi Vacherin Fribourgois qui est la seule anomaly dans cette ensemble de fromages sans goût.

Cooking frenzy

Cha lua slices and lion's heads

Lion's heads/têtes de lions ready to be steamed

Xiu mai

San Choy Bao with minced pork and juliened zucchini, bamboo shoots

I am grateful for Shrek's magnificiently efficient mincing skills. He minced via a meat grinder 4 kilos of pork which made way for a very happy me. I then used up four kilos in various recipes thus yielding 2 kilos of cha lua and cha quê', 1 kilo of xiu mai and finally 1 kilo of lion's heads.

Borné

Shrek's attempt at cooking pancakes has turned out just as I had predicted. He was given 'une épreuve de la dernière chance', c-a-d c'etait sa mission de prouver qu'il est capable de faire des pancakes à son façon. He copied and adjusted my recipe (which was foolproof til Shrek came along), he tweaked it and in the process ruined it.

He had sneakily set out his masterplan of elongating our wait hence heightening our hunger pangs thereby reducing our tastebuds' discerning abilities : who can truly judge how delicious something really is when you've just come out of an imposed hunger strike ? Unfortunately for Shrek his strategy did not succeed and hence he was left to languish in his sorrowing defeat.

His secret weapon (as he was persuaded that it would make all the difference in the world) was 'yeast' (levure de boulangère/naturale). He added a packed of this to two cups of white flour, two cups of milk, two eggs, several teaspoons of baking powder (he ommitted to measure the amount), pinch of salt, approximately one tablespoon of sugar and his secret weapon and let it rise for almost two hours. The final result speaks volumes for itself. I shall definitely not follow his recipe. The verdict from discerning and finicky judges such as Petit Suisse, Lil Miss N and Baby Ben was that it was edible but less than desirable on a scale of deliciousness or yummy.

His pancakes were doughy, bland and heavy not at all light, fluffy and airy like the pancakes one would expect a tried and tested recipe to produce. I do have to credit him for successfully managing to create holes (les trous) or crater faced pikelet-like in appearance oddly-shaped thingymagic. His pancakes as he claims are unique and resemble nothing I have ever seen. I have to congratulate him on originality but taste-wise it was universally PANNED !

Victoire declaré à celle qui merite le plus : tada MOI

Take that Shrekkie

Princess Fiona aka moi 1 Shrek 0

It was a knockout defeat !!!!!!!

KAPOW

I have to stress the importance of this victory because time and again I have proved Shrek wrong and yet he insists in his blinded borné ways : he is eccentric which can be a loveable trait only if he knows when to stop holding onto the shredded and frayed fragments of his methods and persuasions. He is a borné creature by nature and he still persists even if he knows deep down that it will lead him astray because he is stubborn and pig-headed like that, isn't that right Shrek ?

Tiramisu revolution

Petit Suisse was in raptures when he tried my spin on tiramisu and dubbed it cleverly with the title of 'Tiramisu revolution' pronounced with the French accent and emphasis re-vo-lu-si-on

I am utterly proud of this creation of mine as it was certainly a unanimous winner and crowd pleaser and cannot wait to recreate it again and again as it is quite simple and involves no baking and best of all the kids who love to be my lil kitchen helpers can fulfil most of the steps in this heavenly dessert if I do say so myself.

I garde la recette pour moi-même and will pass it onto my children ;)
I might post the recipe if and when I do decide to blog exclusively about food.

Incidentally

The plaque d'Induction has gone irretrievably flop and needs revision or major repair or in my humble opinion complete replacement.

We are going to have to look into 'faire marcher la garantie'.

It has served us for a good two years but alas its brevity could not be prolonged. Instead it has proved me right re its longevity and shown us who is boss.

I am still not convaincu par la plaque d'Induction and had some well-founded reservations and suspicions and upon inspection have further proof.

The Ceran short-circuited our electricity and left us without electricity for half a day.

It needs to prove itself to me. Hopefully its successor will do just that !

Long lives the Whirlpool Ceran stove ! RIP

We are now relying on our classical electric two-top stove until further notice...

For what it's worth

I have learnt my lesson. It is a very important and costly lesson that needs to be passed onto my children immediately.

When you overstuff an upright freezer with full capacity and leave it for three weeks unattended subjected to the heatwave of an impossible hellfire and return to discover that over the course of your abandon the freezer has contracted and expanded leaving it permanently opened to intruders of the heated kind and bacteria being impregnated/penetrated its defences, your husband of impossibly impeccable logic will have no choice but to trash the whole contents of the freezer thereby effectively throwing out more than 300 CHF's worth of alimentation (monetary value) down the drain. Never mind that one had meticulously prepared with affection meals which took hours and since time is money the net worth of all that sweat and tears and effort and such could end up being in the thousands. A very expensive and painful lesson to learn indeed.

My biggest vice that leads to my downfall sometime is greed.

I hope I have cleared up any doubts and have assisted my children in avoiding such a costly mistake in the future. As for me it is a hard lesson to swallow and digest but I have it down pat now !!!

Although I do believe Shrek should have taken photographic proof thereby leaving me with no lingering doubts and also it would be priceless to include a photo of the hard evidence.

Bête noir

I do not know what it is exactly but the numerous attempts at creating an aromatic and flavourful Bun bo Hue has always fallen short of expectation. It is a recipe which I have yet to master and am close to just giving it all up. I deplore the lack of fresh ingredients which I can access in Geneva but in my humble opinion have still a long way to go before I perfect this dish. It is disconcerting because eventhough I do not like bun bo Hue all that much (which is another incentive for me to just give up already) I do want to attempt to at least make a decently satisfying version of it which has evaded me and yesterday was no exception.

I will definitely attempt it again when I have my mum babysitting kids so I can concentrate and not rush hence ruin my effort.

I will post pictures of the satisfying results.

Lemon curd

My lemon curd has craters but you know what it tastes damn good and I do not care about its not-so-perfect appearance


My very first attempt at making lemon curd which was wolfed down by my whole family. I had put off making lemon curd because I was intimidated by 'curd'. It had this aura of difficulty and effort but the easy peasy lemon curd recipe I found rendered curd an effortless exercise of arm muscle as stirring for 15 mins would strengthen your biceps if nothing else. It may replace peanut butter as our fave brekkie spread. It is versatile, slightly acidic, addictively good and I plan to experiment and use it in my savoury dishes as well.

I admit I have long been a lemon curd lover and now have turned my family into lemon curd fiends as well.

Pâtés chauds

It has been at least two years since the last time I baked Pâtés chauds. Pate sô (a French inspired/influenced Vietnamese puff pastry with a savoury filling of predominantly ground pork combined with vegetables and flavoured with fish sauce the ubiquitous Vietnamese condiment)

I decided on a whim to defrost 2 kgs of pork and Shrek was kind enough to mince them for me. I then went on to make a tray full of Pâtés chauds and used up the minced pork in wontons soup as well as Vietnamese cha : steamed/baked eggs and cinnamon ham cha? quê'

I usually go all out when I decide to make and cook up a storm because I want to use up all the ingredients and end up with a gammut of products which will be eaten within the next week.



Môc : steamed eggs with vermicelli, wood ear mushroom and minced pork



Vietnamese cha chien : fried forced meat

Strawberry friands

Five perfectly separated egg yolks before one cracked and got pierced


Batter waiting to be baked


The friands fresh from the oven



Friands cooling on the rack



A glass of bubbly to accompany the pretty little crowing jewels.





I have made strawberry friands a grand total of 2 times. It is not time consuming or complicated or elaborate, it is just a fuss each time I have to gather up enough courage to brave the tugging at my feet and trousers by a mobile infant. I have not got the luxury of tranquilly going about my business of baking or whipping up a feast without the necessary interruptions and encumbrances of little pitter patter feet hence it is a feat indeed for me to accomplish something so banal as baking these delectable friands.

Another reason is that my oven steadfastly refuses to cooperate and it takes twice as long if not three times to cook something in it and the end result is often disputable. It is unreliable and I have had to use 250 degrees C for everything even if the recipe indicates otherwise. It does not work properly and it is a regrettable purchase that will be replaced when we find something else suitable.

I present my second attempt at strawberry friands in a bout the space of three or more years. I did not take photos of my first attempt as I did not deem it necessary or worthwhile. I am recording my culinary progress... so as to encourage my children and Shrek to take an interest in the wondrous world of home cooking. Apron on Shrek !

Week 9/52

Shrek's culinary attempt

It is rare that Shrek has the time to whip up something. Understandably so because he spends his free time mostly catching up on sleep.
He cooked Penne Bolognaise with a fennel twist (shaved fennels were added to the sauce). It was quite tasty and a good departure from his usual offerings. I have to savour whatever he manages as it is far and few between.




These boots are made for walking !

My kids are especially creative and imaginative. They decided this Sunday as it was too cold and windy and blustery to go out to have some fun with what we have on hand. I have an abundance of shoes. I am a self-confessed and unashamed shoe-a-ho-lic. Needless to say I own more pairs of shoes, boots etc... than I can wear. I mostly wear flats for practicality when dealing with the kids by myself. I reserve heels and uncomfortably giddy stilettoes for when Shrek is on hand to assist me with our rugrats. In short they held a fashion show with catwalk heels and boots from mummy's collection. It was an astounding success. I am stoked they found such good use for my massive footwear collection.

Crêpe-tastic

Shrek definitely needs to consult the wonderful world of food blogging. He is in desperate need of reinvention as a cook.

I have requested that he dabbles in referencing some recipes from food blogs so as to improve his culinary skills.

His one dish that he mastered was instant noodles and crêpes and now I am beginning to have real doubt in his ability to successfully churn out delicious and scrumptious crêpes as his latest batch was a miss. He has been having more misses than hits lately. Time to hit the books or web pages eh Shrekkie.

Our Christmas eve dinner

My first attempt at Tam Ki chicken rice was a resounding success. I only took one photo of the chicken above before it was devoured in a flash.

We have been relentlessly consuming heavyweights such as foie gras (which we love), smoked salmon, air-dried ham, bûche de Nöel (sans déco), Merveilles.


As we went to gather final ingredients for our Xmas menu we stumbled upon half-price turkey in our local supermarket. A bargain we could not resist...moreover because Shrek has been yearning for a turkey many yonks ago for festive occasions. This time we struck gold. We could not forgo this deal but decided that the 10 kgs turkey was too big and would be a gluttonous greedy choice we will regret later hence we settled on getting the medium sized 3+ kgs turkey because that was ideal for our family of 6.

Our Xmas eve dinner consisted of Tam Ki turkey rice which was a recipe I modified and tweaked from Tam Ki chicken rice.



Petit Suisse and Lil Miss N could not contain their excitement and upon discovering the unwrapped presents under the Xmas tree gloated like greedy children in a sweets shop. They both ruined the surprise Papa Nöel left for them and opened all the pressies in a flash eventhough I heard the unwrapping noise and paper being torn and sighed a little because I had planned on taking a photo as a souvenir of all the presents nicely sitting under the tree.

Shrek painstakingly explained to them that next year they will have to wait to unwrap the presents one by one with all the family gathered and not selfishly attack the packages.

Biological lesson

There are three factors that affect the degradability of food hence rendering it unfit for consumption.

These are temperature, time and humidity. It is said that at room temperature (it is aggravated in summer) natural humidity induced by the presence of moisture in food is an incubator for bacteria to develop.

At room temperature and with a normal ambient level of humidity (presence of water or other cooking liquid) the critical time is 12 hours. After said period has elapsed it is mandatory that one throw said food out.

I should have this lesson down pat by now but it seems that for some inexplicable reason (frugality perhaps) I still have not learnt my lesson.

It is a delicate subject matter.

Oh well as it is often said 'You are what you eat' I will proceed to improving this aspect.

I expect Shrek to improve certain aspects of his 'idiosyncracies' as well.

I want to pass on this important lesson to my children and hope that they will not have to endure the same predicament as me.

Shrek's culinary prowess

I have to congratulate Shrekkie for a meal well prepared and executed tonight. He made pan-fried Perche du Nil and sautée button mushrooms accompanied by white jasmin rice.

It was yummylicious.

We all revelled in Shrek's exhibition of culinary mastery.

Important lesson

I have learnt the hard way a very valuable lesson re cooking/baking
My first attempt at recreating 'pots de crème de chocolat' was a complete dud because I wanted a healthy and lighter version and substituted 'low fat cream' instead of using full cream. This rendered the cream runny and yuck... I can only learn from this mistake and advise people that if you are on a health kick and want nothing to do with sugar and cream, stay away from desserts. Low fat and healthy desserts are just not worth the pain. There is no way good 'crème' or cakes etc can taste good if you use low fat instead of full cream...

cream mmmm miam miam

I cannot know wot possessed me to substitute and make the ultimate mistake but I will not be repeating the same mistake next time. Stick to sugar, butter (real butter, no substitutes) and cream and one cannot go wrong.

Don't skim on the fat and sugar when it comes to sweets and treats. They would not be treats if they tasted like cardboard now would they ?

Dinner

Shrek cooked dinner tonight. It was an absolutely scrumptious feast. We had Green Thai seafood curry. Shrek should do kitchen duties more often.



***Disclaimer Shrek simply peeled off the plastic of an alu container and reheated a ready made meal. So much for cooking eh Shrek :)
I should have just left the post without the disclaimer, it's a spoiler hehehehe