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.

Weekend to remember

The weather leaves much to desire. I have been blessed with a wonderful weekend of endless whining, crying, sulking and screaming...add to that fatigue and hours spent cooking up a storm. The weekend is almost over and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel,the blinding light which instils hope and gives me strength to fight yet another day.

What I was most proud of was my culinary achievements: I made xiu mai simmered in caramel sauce, pearl meatballs /which were the size of golf balls), spriracha and mustard chicken drumsticks, xoi ga`, Vietnamese grilled pork : thi.t nuong

I was satisfied with the results and ended up with at least 6 meals from all that cooking.

Baby Taz seems to be making inroads into his linguistics and honing his skills mainly by mimicry. He is a perfect example of a copycat. Today when Lil Miss N wanted to hold my hand, he proceeded to do the same and sweetly said : 'Mama, wanna hold your hand mama'

It is rather poignant and those little moments of intimacy and tenderness makes up for whole days of frustrations arising from out of control kids.

Week 25/52

Cuisine par les enfants involves no cooking but merely assembling ingredients

Week 22/52

Gio lu.a ai oi !
Mai dzô, mai dzô

Week 20/52

Learning the alphabet with the help of foam is FUN !


Another memorable dish :eggplant stuffed (figuratively speaking) with pork paste

Week 17/52

Fondant au chocolat avec fraises au basalmic et poire poché


Foie gras sur toasts et sa salade et poire avec reduction de vin rouge


Rack d'agneau avec tomates cerises, haricots verts accompagné de purée de pomme de terre

Week 15/52

Lemon melting moments where I recreated the recipe found on A Food Lover's journey with the modification wherein I used tapioca starch instead of corn flour as I had run out of corn flour. I rather liked my modification and will make these again. My kids adored them because they really are melt-in-your-mouth thanks in large part to the scary amount of butter all 200 grams...but it's worth it.

Overrated

Décidement I have decided after much reflection that caviar is definitely overrated and overpriced. I arrived at this conclusion after a recent tasting of caviar. I will eat it if it is presented to me but at the inexorbitant price of more than 1000 Francs per kilo it is unjustified and I prefer foie gras or lobster or scallops or oysters or other fruits of the sea over caviar.

I will not knock it if it is gifted to me but to shell out large sums for a ridiculously overpriced item that I deem not worthy of its high standing and status is out of the question for me.

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 !

My continuing love affair with all things dairy

I love love love dairy : yoghurts, dairy-based desserts, crèmes of all sorts and double crème, cheeses. I have come to become dairy dependent and have no qualms almost subsisting on a diet of dairy products and by products alone except when I have product overload and become sated hence nauseated by queasy sensations brought on by surfeit.

This is another non-exhaustive list of cheeses I have had the pleasure (and sometime disappointment or deceit and disgust) of trying

Montasio : on the fence.

I have given myself a rest from over-indulgence and thus have not degusté new cheeses as of late. My palate is being cleansed with an abundance of vegetables mainly carrots and zucchinis interspersed by salads and capsicums, bitter melons, Asian squash aka winter melon and okra.

Oranges, clementines, apples, persimmons and pawpaw rounds out my fruits intake.

Luckily our supply of Perles de Lait is coming to an end. That is our consumption of it for at least three months til the next big purchase coinciding with the big SALE.

Chestnut season

The chestnut season so far has proved to be dissappointing beyond belief.

It mirrors life in Geneva : in theory full of promises but fails to deliver and ultimately falls flat.

Petit Suisse so far has not requested chestnuts because the ones he has had thus far have been rotten or thoroughly below par. Let's hope that we will enjoy a few batches of roasted goodness soon.

Time to move onto greener pastures elsewhere.

Geneva is becoming less and less appealing if that is possible and lower and lower in my esteem.

Creaming the ice !

After having spent the best part of over a year sitting idly in the corner of my kitchen my 'sorbetière' ou 'machine à glace', ice cream maker was put to its intended use for the very first time today. It marked the first ever batch of ice cream. It was a rather positive experience and I am sure that there will be many follow up home made ice creams and sorbets with a wide array of varying ingredients. I will definitely test out many recipes I have been dying to try and maybe will even come up with my own unique signature flavour .

The first leap has been overcome. The batch was a resounding success I might add and was a very heartening first effort.

It is a chocolate flavoured ice cream with undertones of coffee forever etched as a first successful batch.

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

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.

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.