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.

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.

Grillade à la Suisse vs the Aussie barbie

No guesses as to which I prefer !

Sauvage vs facility and accessibility

The Swiss are utter amateurs when it comes to the art of it barbequeuing and the minute attention to details such as providing several picnic tables and barbequeuing grills escape their sensiblities.

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.

La Tô

La is for chocolat
Tô is for gâteau


Basically the gist of it is that Bb Ben repeats the last syllable of everything we say or in the case of Vietnamese the last word as Vietnamese is a monosyllabic language


Bonbons : lollies is what she can say clearly without any trouble at all...

Basically she like her sister and brothers or maybe it's a kiddie thing loves all things sweet and therefore her first words are associated with chocolate cake and lollies.

They do seem to take after my sweet tooth after all which spells disaster for their teeth !

The new masterchef

I propelled Shrek to rediscovered a long forgotten secret to preparing marrons chauds. I cannot reveal the secret but needless to say I am the self-proclaimed and acclaimed Masterchef de marrons chauds !
Pictures to come...

The marrons dissappeared before I had a chance to photograph them.

Girl's night out

Tonight marked the first ever girl's night out for me on Swiss territory. I simply had sushis at a sushi train but it was an hour I savoured because I ate without any interruptions or demands from kids which sometime take away from enjoyment of the moment. It was also a momentous milestone as Shrek was left in charge of babysitting duties. It went well and wondrously so that I think I am going to continue this tradition and proclaim a monthly outing for me. Heaven knows I deserve it so that I can come back to a lifetime of servitude and pandering to others needs above my own.

I love Shrek !

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 8/52

A steaming bowl of Vietnamese chicken noodle soup aka Pho Ga





Vietnamese chicken curry


The glorious food moments of this week are especially memorable as I have a tendency to cobble together quick meals that are easy and unencumbrant to prepare due mostly to time restraints which arise out of having four kids to survey. I actually made a mighty effort to cook something that I normally would just pass up as taking too long and needing too much exertion and effort. I hope to create and bake and cook great Vietnamese and other cuisines at least once a week. I do hope to build up my cooking and culinary repertoire as well as a baking folder filled with recipes that I can pass onto my children.

It is said somewhere that one keeps ones culture alive through food.

Food is after all a very big part of culture. Food together with art, language and traditions as well as other components compose culture as we know it.

Weekly menu plan

Monday night : left over bu'n ma(ng ga (Vietnamese rice vermicelli with chicken broth and dried bamboo shoots)

Tuesday night : jasmin rice with Vietnamese stir-fried beef

Wednesday dinner : rice with stir-fried chicken fillet and broccoli and carrots

Thursday night : fried noodles with chicken breast and mixed veggies

Friday night : Vietnamese chicken curry with sweet potatoes, carrots served with crusty bread

Saturday lunch : Vietnamese chicken noodle soup Pho*? ga`


Sunday brunch : Shrek's way too salty crêpes and whipped cream
Sunday dinner : Pho*? ga` and chicken curry

Random food photo

Hassleback potatoes (or something to that effect) which is basically just whole potatoes scored and roasted.

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.

Cheesy halt

My overzealous and over exposure to cheese has waned my desire to eat it altogether.
Respite from dairy and cheese is quite impossible as there are too many tempting and ridiculously cheap bargains that I find too good to resist and pass up.

I must limit my shopping expeditions and bargain hunting ventures in order to curb this crazy accumulation of cheeses. One major reason is that other than Shrek and I the children are not consumers of fromages. They refuse steadfastly to eat anything other than Beurkkkk Ba-ba-by-bel or in the case of Baby Taz La vache qui rit (which is Shrek's worst nightmare).

Henceforth Shrek and I (especially me) have to finish off all cheese that I buy on a whim.

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.

Sugar hit

Sugar Can Enhance Alertness

Sugar is your brain's preferred fuel source -- not table sugar, but glucose, which your body metabolizes from the sugars and carbohydrates you eat. That's why a glass of something sweet to drink can offer a short-term boost to memory, thinking processes, and mental ability.

Consume too much, however, and memory can be impaired -- along with the rest of you. Go easy on the sugar so it can enhance memory, without packing on the pounds.

Above is an excerpt from the webmd.com website

I have one more reason to indulge in my extravagances and peché mignon or NOT ?

Short term energy boost is not a good enough reason to forgo long term health. If only !!!