Week 29/52

The little piggy ate all the cherries and left the pits next to her.

Week 27/52

Forgive my bad technic but I had to share the rare moments that I savoured before I was sorely dissapointed by the denouement of caviar. I now do not wonder as to why I hardly ever buy it because it is just overrated.

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.

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.

Weekly menu plan

Here are descriptions of what we had for our meals last week complete with pictures.

Monday lunch : sautée spinach, pork roast with abricot glaze and gratin


Monday night : my creation which was a great success
pizza cum tarte with leeks, bacon, onions, tomato and mozzarella topping.



Tuesday night : Shrek's rice with pan-fried Perche du Nil and button mushrooms

Wednesday lunch : Mac 'n cheese
Wednesday dinner : Pasta soup (either with alphabet pasta or Macaronis) an easy peasy meal to whip up that is always a big hit with my kids

Thursday lunch : left-over pizza
Thursday dinner : tomates Mozzarella and smoked salmon




Friday lunch : pan-fried Basa fillets, zucchini sautée and rice
dessert meringues and double crème de Gruyère.
Friday dinner : Vietnamese crab vermicelli soup with tomato broth aka bun rieu

Saturday lunch : tête marbré and pizza (store bought)
dessert Tiramisu





Saturday dinner : rice with roast chicken drumsticks à la Shrek (was dry and salty)
dessert gatêau aux amandes, crème vanille

Sunday brunch :picnic with smoked salmon, brioche sucrée au beurre, apples, seedless grapes, prunes, chips

Sunday dinner : penne avec sauce à la crème aux champignons de Paris
dessert assortiment of cheeses, yoghurts and left over tiramisu

Say cheese...

I love Merveilles des Maroilles and Boursault cheeses. They are utterly delectable: tasty morsels of dripping, runny dairy with bite and strong character/gôut.

I also love love love the ultra creamy 'Masgonzola' which is a 50%-50% mix of Mascarpone and Gorgonzola. I find Most Italian cheeses fad, bland and tasteless but I particularly like Masgonzola. mmmmmm


Engadiner is a blergh cheese. I have to include my likes and dislikes contrasted agaisnt one another for comparison.


After the assault of cheeses on sale, I now have cheese withdrawal symptoms aka dairy product overload. I need to stave off the coagulated milk for a short while before I will regain my lust for cheeses.

Shrek's most romantic gesture yet !

Shrek showed his sensitive and romantic facet last night. He did the dreaded housework of vacuuming and mopping and proceeded to cook/execute a wonderful dinner by candlelight for the two of us. We ended up with a wonderful meal : Penne aux mélange de champignons à la crème followed by (store bought) tiramisu. We downed a bottle and a half of red wine : Saint Emillion Grand Cru Château Lalande de Gravet 1997 and a bottle of 1996 Château Beauchêne...

Benben assisted us with her presence and punctuated our romantic night by candlelight with periodic bruyant nods of 'dis'approval aka 'cries for attention'.

A good night was had by all.

wink wink @Shrek


P.S. We are still toying with our newest addition aka Lumix TZ7 and have yet to discover all of its functions, capabilities...so future captures will be much improved.

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 ?

Baby Taz's questionable ancestry

Baby Taz's overly enthusiastic consumption of Italian food such as risotto, pasta points to evidence of possible Italian lineage. I wonder if he has any hidden Italian heritage, on second thoughts maybe Italian food is just accessible and easy to like and palatable when one is undiscerning and at the tender age of almost 2 years.
He wolfs down pasta with consequence but I do hope that he will in time appreciate the much more complex Vietnamese cuisine.

My personal culinary triumphs and disastrous flops in the kitchen juxtaposed.

Triumphs:

My always scrumptious and impossibly moist carrot cakes. My attemps have been most satisfying and I have successfully modified the recipe to my liking with a few of my personal touches I am rather proud of. Although the last carrot cake I baked was more than two years ago for Lil Miss N's birthday carrot cake is still one of my favourite if not my favourite cake to bake and eat. I just have not been in the baking mood lately and I have a convection oven with limited capacity and function.

My very first but highly successful attempt at a 'tourte aux marrons' or 'chestnut cake'. It was moist, melt-in-your-mouth and wonderfully chestnutty.

My wontons which can be boiled and eaten in a soup/broth, deep-fried or oven-baked.

My chicken drumsticks- which I bake for a lower cholesterol version or deep-fry when I am hankering and craving oily goodness. It is a big hit with my kids.

My cream of carrot/velouté with a ginger and sweet potato twist. It is rather flavourful and with a touch of cream can do no wrong.

My version of Vietnamese pork paste (cha) which I pan fry using no oil and a Tefal anti-adhesive frying pan. The trick lies in the marinade.

My bo luc lac-shaking beef which I add just a hint of satay to.

My bun rieu- tomato based broth with crab.

My tiramisu sans œufs leaves people wanting more (mainly Petit Suisse, Lil Miss N, Baby Taz and Shrek of course)

My Vietnamese beef noodle soup is a real hit in my household. They always ask for more in my household.

My strawberry/mixed berries friands.

Any type of egg-drop soup with aparagus and crab, quail eggs, surimi/mock seafood sticks etc or any ingredients I fancy/have on hand.

My Vietnamese sandwich : banh mi with varying meats such as char siu, roast chicken, pâté, pickled condiments-carrots and daikons, coriander.


Now onto the flops
I have had quite a number of misadventures with egg whites. The first few times involved me having tainted the whisks with a tiny bit of yolk and the whites refused to rise and glisten like glossy peaks the way most recipes call for. Needless to say it frustrated me to no end. I had to abandon a few gâteau recettes because the egg whites failed to behave and cooperate.

I once made chocolate mousse and instead of sugar or what I thought was sugar added a teaspoon of MSG and subsequently salt. I will never live that one down. It was horrible.

I made the mistake of attempting to roll spring rolls while Petit Suisse was a wee baby- four months or thereabouts. He did not know I was in the middle of doing something important and as it was the year where heatwaves swept through Europe and left my mum mistaking Geneva for a typical Sydney summer it meant that the filling that was taken in and out of the fridge due to Petit Suisse's interruptions meant that I secured a sure way to poison Shrek's fragile stomach. I think that this experience traumatised me and I have not made more attempts since that disaster to make spring rolls and vow only to make them when the children are nowhere in sight. This is partly why there are lots of recipes that I am dying to try which I think will be part of my repertoire or signature dishes that I have to postpone and put off until I can have several uninterrupted and tranquil hours to kill without the fear of being hindered by demanding kids.

A few times I put too little baking powder/baking soda into a cake batter and the end result was miserable globs of barely edible baked good.

That is all I can remember for now. Only the outstandingly remarkable or unforgettable can make the list because it would be endless to include everything.