Two Years On...and I'm migrating (virtually)!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I decided that I should repeat the tradition of updating on Christmas. This year's Christmas is markedly different from last year's, mainly because I'm spending it overseas in Perth with another loved one of mine and I just had a 'barbie' on the beach. That's Aussie for BBQ! It was a novel experience, spending Christmas by the beach, enjoying the gorgeous sunset and the tasty food prepared by yours truly.

I decided that I should repeat last year's post by doing another walk down memory lane. The pickings this year are quite slim, because as compared to 102 posts in 2011, I only wrote 35 posts this year! That's a third but I guess it's understandable considering 2012 was when I got a full-time job which occupies probably 80% of my time.

My Most Beautiful Post and The Post That I Am Most Proud Of 

I guess macarons do photograph very beautifully. Last year's "most beautiful post" was my pink salted caramel macarons and this year, it's my ferrero rocher macarons. Not only were they beautiful, they were delicious too. The only thing I hate about macarons is how finicky it is. Perhaps I haven't got my technique right, but it always seems to be a hit-or-miss deal with me when I'm making macarons.

However, the post that I am most proud of, albeit not a complete post (ie without recipe), is my recent post on what I've been up to. So many reasons why I'm proud of it - I baked 300 cupcakes across 3 weekends, iced them with 12 different types of frosting, baked trays and trays of cookies, and single-handedly raised a sizeable amount for charity! I would definitely want to repeat this next year!

My Most Popular Post 

Again, the list of baking places in Singapore remains the most popular post. However, for a post done in 2012, that would have to be my list of Pizza Places/Pizzerias in Singapore. Come to think of it, my "lists" tend to be really popular, which I guess is good testimony to my information gathering skills (which is an important skill I cultivate on a daily basis thanks to my job).

I do have a few more lists in the pipeline, but as usual, I want everything to be almost perfect before I upload them, hence the delay. 

A Post I Feel Didn’t Get the Attention It Deserved 

Maybe because the photos I took were not spectacular but these chocolate sables were my best selling cookie during the Christmas Charity fair and has been my best cookie so far, according to both friends and family. It is also known as the "World Peace Cookies" by Dorie Greenspan, so do try them out for yourself if you haven't. I can assure you that you will definitely not regret it.

*****

With that, I have a very important announcement to make. For those of you who might have been clicking on the links above, you might have realized that you get sent to a domain called "un pastiche". That is my new domain =] The website is not completely up yet - I still have some remaining things to do like the header and updating the older posts which got screwed up in the process of migrating but I've decided to introduce you guys to my new home on 25 December because of the significance of the date :]

I had a few reasons for migrating, even though it meant losing some readers and the rankings for some of my top posts. One of the main reasons was that I wanted to have a brand which I could use on the products I am selling, which I am increasingly doing, and "not the kitchen sink" sounded a little odd on cake boxes and labels. I also wanted the freedom of my own domain, so well here we go! I spent a good part of the year looking for designers who was willing to do what I wanted within my budget, and boy did I get lucky with Kaiyi. She is a local blogger/designer whom I got to help me design my new blog. I was working with a really tight budget, but I wanted lots of frills for a small budget, and Kaiyi was the only one who fit the bill. And the end result was fantastic :]

I will be updating the blog on unpastiche.com from now on, so please bookmark that page or change your feeds to my new page. I will be holding a couple of giveaways soon in my new home as part of my 'housewarming', so please head on down and keep your eyes peeled! The giveaways are one of my biggest yet and will come from stash bought from Australia!

I'm tucking in early tonight for Boxing Day sales tomorrow - catch you guys around my new home at un pastiche!

One Year On

Merry Christmas everyone! Although Christmas this year was a subdued affair, we celebrated by having roast chicken instead of roast turkey, coupled with delicious roast vegetables and a homely mushroom soup. All very simple, but delicious all the same. I also made a chocolate log cake, again with my 3-ingredient sponge rolled up with whipped cream and topped with chocolate ganache. 

My family no longer exchange gifts, because it's usually a waste of money if you get something just for the sake of gift giving. Christmas is not just about gift giving, but about giving, so if you've received many useless/unwanted gifts this year, why not ask your friends and family to use that money next year to donate it to a cause close to your heart or to help a charity? 

Because of the commercialization of Christmas, it's also easy to forget why there is Christmas in the first place - for Christians, it's the day when Christ was born; for others, it's perhaps a time for family and for giving thanks, and to reflect on the year gone by. That particularly applies to me - I find myself particularly reflective during Christmas, as I dwell on what has happened in the year past and what I hope for the year ahead. This Christmas is also particularly meaningful, because it's when my blog turns one! Yes, I first started the blog exactly a year ago on Christmas Day. I didn't exactly draft that very first post on Christmas Day itself because it being my first post, I remember spending many days on it, editing and thinking of what to write. I finally posted it on Christmas Day, because I wanted Christmas to mark the birth of my blog, and the birth of something new in my life. It was also because I got my Bombino, my workhorse the Kitchenaid for Xmas last year. 

Some experimental sugar-free Christmas tree cookies for diabetics in my family

Looking back, I'm very thankful for the gift, because I can honestly say that it perhaps helped me move forward with my baking, because I could no longer hide behind the excuse of not having any mixer to bake the 'harder' things. To say that I’m very proud of the past year and how this little blog of mine has progressed is an understatement. I opened a document entitled “aims for my blog”, which I wrote one year ago, and one of my aims was to be more consistent in taking photographs and to settle on a structure for my blog posts. I believe I’ve settled into my own structure over the past year, and although I’m still not too consistent in taking photographs of everything I bake, I’m making an effort and I'm definitely proud of the progress I've made in food styling-wise and photography-wise. 

The other aim was to have 2000 page views after 6 months. I’m not sure why I settled on this number, but I’m glad to say that I’ve surpassed this greatly. Today, exactly 12 months after I started my first post, this blog has garnered more than 118,000 page views! This has definitely surpassed the original aim of 2000 page views. There are still a couple more personal aims which I have yet to fulfill, but I’m taking steps towards that. With the advent of work (I officially started work 12 December), posting has been much slower, so I've decided to take things slower, and let this blog grow organically, and let fate surprise me instead. 

Anyway, I decided that this was an apt time as any to do a little walk down memory lane now that my blog is a year old. I decided to bastardize the 7-links meme that has been going around the internet, with just 5 links of my own. You might realize that most of the links are pretty recent entries, because I think that my photography has picked up considerably recently, hence the self-confidence ;p

My Most Beautiful Post and The Post That I Am Most Proud Of 

This was hard. I equate most beautiful post with the photos that I’ve taken that I’m most pleased with. This would be a tie with my pink salted caramel macarons and my chocolate cupcakes. I believe my photograph-taking has been improving, thanks to the reading up and experimenting I’m doing. 

For the salted caramel macarons, I'm proud of them because it represents how far I have gone since the first time I started baking. I always used to help my mom with baking cupcakes and muffins, and never would I imagine myself baking macarons, little things which I gobbled down when I was in Europe. I'm really proud of how much I've grown as a baker, but to an extent, I have been very hesitant about doing entremets and more complex stuff, hence the dearth of such things on the blog. I really hope that with the advent of the new year, I'll gather more courage to try and post about them here! :]

For the chocolate cupcakes, it's a really simple recipe, but it shows how much I've improved food styling wise. A year ago, I would never have used so many textures and props in a photograph, and taking the effort to look for the best light and to find props to match the cupcakes. But hey, look at how far I've come :]

My Most Popular Post 

Hands down it is my list of baking places in Singapore. When I posted the list, I never knew it would be as popular as it is now. I think it ranks as one of the top 10 google result searches when you search for “baking supplies in Singapore” or something like that. Do also check out my list of price comparisons between baking ingredients in Singapore, which I myself refer to on more than one occasion. I actually have many more of such lists, like a complete list of food places/ restaurants in town - this helps me when ive no idea what to eat in Orchard, as well as to help my guests from overseas. And a complete list of pizzerias, organic food stores, etc. I hope to be able to post them soon, once I type them out and neatly arrange things. 

A Post Whose Success Surprised Me 

Again, this is a tie between my fluffy pancakes and moist steamed chocolate cake. The pancakes post was literally done in half an hour. I had made the pancakes earlier in the morning, hurriedly snapped a few photos with my iphone and my camera, then uploaded it and wrote a short blog post to accompany it. I never imagined so many would think the pancakes were pretty and had it repined both on tumblr and interest!

Same for the chocolate cake. I was actually too lazy to look for a proper plate for the cake, so I used the white cutting board as a base and couldn't be bothered with the chocolate and crumbs all over. I must say it looks pretty artistic on hindsight ;p

A Post I Feel Didn’t Get the Attention It Deserved 

This would have to be Pierre Herme’s ispahan cupcake. With the popularity of the ispahan flavor combination, I was expecting this recipe to make the rounds, but sadly, it didn’t. Perhaps it’s too plebian as compared to the ispahan macaron or buche de noel? Anyhow, I’m posting it again here so that those of you who are too scared to try the tough stuff (like me), can start off with this relatively simple cupcake recipe :] 

Alright. I actually wanted to post a couple of my Christmas recipes (such as my new and improved Christmas log cake and various other cookies), but I actually had to work on the eve of Christmas eve, which was officially a company holiday, and work's been a bitch the whole of last week. In fact, I've to go back to the office later tonight (yes, on Christmas Day) and I'll probably have to work through to Boxing Day tomorrow as well. Sad no? Well, as my senior said, welcome to the sad life. 

Anyhow, have a blessed Christmas everyone, and hopefully I'll find time to post something new between now and the new year, before I leave for a short holiday to Taiwan :]

Some Instagram updates

I've been busy baking lately, but have been too lazy to take proper photographs or blog about them. And after looking through my iPhone albums, I decided to post up some of my instagram photos to remember what I've been up to. These photographs are taken with Instagram, which is an awesome app, and I'm quite a fan of instagram, because I often find myself without a proper camera and just with my phone. The effects are really awesome and they even have a tilt-shift effect which replicates the small aperture effect on dslrs. Some pictures below of course, are kinda noisy because of the lighting conditions, but other than that, there's nothing much instagram won't fix!

These are some of the photographs from quite some time ago. No recipes this time around, these photographs are just here for me to note how far I've progressed thus far in my baking journey :]

Ebony & Ivory - White and Dark Chocolate Chip (naked) Cupcakes

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins with Almond Nibs

Pear & Ricotta Puff Pastry Tarts

Chai Latte

PS: If you're interested in any baked goods below, don't worry - I'll be posting recipes of them up as soon as I have some free time from school/work to do so!

And here are some other picture-perfect photos from my Aussie trip (aka my nicer Instagram photos):

Sunset at Sunshine Coast

The ever-iconic Sydney Opera House, with the tilt-shift effect

Entitled "In Her Eyes", taken by my dearest at Bondi Beach <3

Travel Tuesdays #7 - Paris of the East: Phnom Penh, Cambodia

It’s Tuesday again (time really flies), and today is exactly 2 weeks since I’ve left Phnom Penh (pronounced as per-nom pen in Khmer) and slightly more than a week since I set foot down under. Today I’ll be covering just 2 places of note in Phnom Penh – the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, otherwise known as the S-21 Prison, and the Choeung Ek Killing fields – both of which are sad reminders of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. It is more than possible to visit both these places within half a day, since the tour of the prison takes about 2-3 hours, followed by a 40 minute bus ride to the Killing fields, and another 2 hour tour there. Also, don’t be stingy and skimp on having a tour guide – having a tour guide really helps, and their fees are really low in Phnom Penh – it’s about US$25 for an entire day of guiding you around! I’d definitely recommend visiting Cheung Ek after you have visited the Genocide Museum, to get better insights into the Khmer Rouge regime. 

Ever wondered why the name Khmer Rouge? Well, Rouge is basically red in French, and the ruling party during the Khmer Rouge regime was the Communist Party of Kampuchea, and as we know, the color red is usually associated with communist regimes – think Mao and his red flag. 

So we visited Tuol Sleng early in the morning. This was the infamous S-21 prison during the Khmer Rouge, and it was formerly a school. Thousands of people were tortured here, before being shipped off in the truckloads to Choeung Ek to be killed. Only 8 prisoners made it out alive from this prison, and their testimonies are written on some of the exhibition panels. I guess what's most shocking is how small this prison was, and yet it contained at least 1,500 people at any one time during the Khmer Rouge Regime.  

You probably can't see this clearly but the board is "The Security of Regulation" - 10 rules that all prisoners had to abide by or else. The wooden frame right in front of the school building is no pull-up bar, it was used to dunk prisoners who were hung upside down into those pots which were filled with waste liquid until an admission was extracted. This otherwise looks like a normal school compound, doesn't it?   

This is what used to be a classroom, now converted into makeshift cells for prisoners before they were tortured in the other rooms. Each cubicle is merely enough for sitting down, and barely enough for stretching out your legs. A seemingly 

A seemingly empty classroom, but the bed frame and the box on it contains torture devices used to torment the prisoners. 

 

Also shocking are the atrocities that Khmer Rouge managed to commit during their four-year reign of terror. The exact number of people who died unclear, but from rough estimates and from what the tour guide told us, pre-1979, Cambodia had about 5 million people in total; post- 1979, 3 million people were left, so do your math. 

For those interested, Comrade Duch - best known for running this S-21 prison, was convicted by the Cambodian Special Court to 35 years' imprisonment for crimes against humanity, murder and torture he committed during 1975-9. Many Cambodians don't think it fair that he be imprisoned for so short a time, but Cambodia no longer has the death penalty (unlike Singapore). Also, many Cambodians appear to want to leave the four years as it is, a horrific reminder of what a fellow Cambodian can do to his people, and many want to let it be water under the bridge. Well.

After a few grim hours walking in Tuol Sleng (the tour guide will guide you through the different classrooms and buildings - there are 3 in total, each with different 'functions'), we took a bus to Choeung Ek. You can also take a tuk-tuk there if there's just a few of you. 

When you head to Choeung Ek, the first thing you see is this tall towering Buddhist stupa standing tall and alone. On its side t is another traditional building - this houses the museum which screens a documentary at regular intervals, explaining more about the Khmer Rouge regime and its atrocities. The stupa is 62 meter tall, 17 storeys high. According to my tour guide, it has over 8000 human skulls, and many other body parts, and each storey contains different body parts uncovered at each site. The bottom few storeys contain clothing garments and other objects found together with the corpses - all of which were chemically treated in 1988 when the stupa was built, to preserve them. 

This stupa was built in 1988, as a memorial, to remind the later generations of Cambodians, as well as visitors from around the world, of the terror that these victims went through. The building of the stupa is also significant, because Cambodians are a deeply religious lot, and many were troubled that these victims were not given a proper Buddhist send-off into the other world. This stupa allow for the Buddhist funeral rites to be performed to allow the spirits to peacefully transit into the afterlife. Furthermore, stupas are sacred structures in Buddhism - they are meant to contain remains of greatly revered individuals. You can't see from the photo, but the sides of the stupa are glass-walled, so that you may look into the stupa and see the dozens and hundreds of human skulls looking eyelessly out at you. 

Dozens and dozens of human skulls - some with fractures from being killed by a fatal blow, some with holes from being killed by a pickaxe, and more. 

It is at Choeung Ek that the tortured prisoners from the S-21 prison was brought. There have been tons of mass graves found, and many more yet to be uncovered (approximately 50 more). Prisoners were forced to kneel at the edge of a pre-dug pit, with their eyes blindfolded and their hands tied behind their backs. Then, they were killed, with the method favored by the soldier(s) at the pit. Simple implements were used to kill, because the soldiers did not want to waste bullets. For example, the branch of the palm tree, with its razor sharp edges, was used to slice a prisoner's neck from ear to ear. Another method for disposing of children was a tree trunk found in the area (as seen below). These children would be lifted by their arms or legs, and the soldiers would continually bash their skulls against the tree trunk, until they died. Talk about improvising with what they had huh? 

A loudspeaker would be hung from the branches of this tree, and because of its size and position in the killing field, it would magnify the music in the loudspeaker and mask the sounds the victims made as they were being executed. This was to prevent the other blindfolded prisoners from realizing that they were in fact, pigs heading to the slaughterhouse, and thus panicking. 

While walking around Choeung Ek, I felt that more could be done to preserve the items - for instance, scraps of clothing found post-1988 are merely placed in glass tanks around the pits. They are not placed in the stupa because those items are chemically treated. This means that in a few more decades, these scraps of clothing would most likely turn into dust. Admittedly, Choeung Ek as a memorial, is less well-done than places like the concentration camps in Germany, some of which I've been to, but it does not make it any less grim. What I brought home from the trip was that Cambodia does need funds urgently - the reason why items or skulls found post-1988 are not chemically treated to preserve them is because funds are not sufficient for these activities. 

A last look at the stupa in Choeung Ek

It is only after you visit Toul Sleng and Choeung Ek that you realize why Cambodia is at the stage it is now, why it continues to be so undeveloped when its neighbours Thailand and Vietnam are racing ahead. The Khmer Rouge regime really did devastate it. In fact, an interesting observation was that in my 3 weeks in Cambodia, I only saw 3 really old people - people whom I’d tag as about 70 years and above, people who were wrinkled and hunchbacked. Everyone else is young, probably around 50 years old or less. This was because so many people, especially scholars and other skilled people, were killed during those 4 years. Cambodia really did start from Ground Zero starting 1979. All its scholars and professionals were killed. One can't help but feel the pain that Cambodians feel when visiting these sites. 

On a lighter note, there are other places of interest in Phnom Penh, such as the Royal Palace and the Wat Phnom, both of which deserve a visit too, but I’ll leave that for another post. Also, unknown to many, Phnom Penh actually has really good shopping – I managed to get things like scarves for about US$2-3, and shirts for less than US$5 each! And they are of pretty good quality, mind you! For those contemplating a trip somewhere in Southeast Asia, please don’t write off Cambodia - I believe it is still an undiscovered pearl, and as a nation, it so very needs our help, in terms of our tourist dollar and our donations, if you are so inclined. Do put Phnom Penh (and Siem Reap) in your to-go-to places today!

PS: It really is worth the 6-hour bus ride to head down to Siem Reap just to see Angkor Wat. 

I'll be back, very shortly!

I know it's been a while since I posted, but I've been really productive - I've been to Perth and had North African cuisine, then to Melbourne where I went crazy with all the cakes that the city had to offer - I can safely say that I've eaten at most of the food blogger-recommended places and then some. I'm now in Sydney, where I'm finally able to not live out of my suitcase. I'll be staying here in Sydney for the next month, but might be heading up North to Brisbane and Gold Coast (whee!) so we'll see ;) Food-wise, the trip has been a total adventure - I've been trying all the loveliest food everywhere and I'm busy mentally recording all these tastes and sounds and hoping to recreate them in my kitchen later. I've also been absorbing the culture of these places - I really love the cosmopolitan-ness of Australia, and how the different cultures have indeed become a melting pot, and not a 'salad bowl' (a la Singapore). I also can't wait to experiment with new food - I have yet to try baking with rhubarbs and other interesting temperate fruits/veggies but I've been stocking up the pantry with basics so that I can begin baking and cooking asap! :]

No photos to accompany this post, sorry! But I'd like to add that I've been going stir-crazy at the op shops and vintage markets here - I've bought a huge-ass porcelain cake stand (which is super awesome) as well as cups and vintage ramekins whee! :D Will be updating this blog really really soon :]

Three months on + a fragrant [vanilla bean] giveaway!

Boy I finally got a breather after a few weeks of intense reports, assignments, presentations and what-nots. Finally managed to indulge in some baking after having churned out more than 10,000 worth of words, and I only have one last report left to do before it's time for the long-awaited exams! It's long awaited because I've 2 full months of holidaying waiting for me after that =D I just took 3 jabs today, 2 on my arms and another on my butt, in preparation for Cambodia, where I'll spend 3 weeks doing some volunteer work. Though my arms are all achy now, it makes me happy to know that I'm this much closer to getting there!

Anyway, I know that people usually only do posts like this after reaching milestones like the 100th post or the first year anniversary, but I wanted to write a little something after having a food-related blog for 3 months, since it's my blog anyway. I've always wanted to have a food-related blog, but I never was able to find the time or patience to blog consistently. However, after living aboard and being exposed to different food cultures and coming back with the ability to cook and bake, I found the need to keep a recipe book (which I do keep - a spiralbound notebook where I jot down my ideas and recipes) and because I wanted to improve my photography skills, a blog seemed like an apt solution. Besides, I used to spend a copious amount of time online previously, tending to customers for my now-defunct online business, and when I came back, I didn't want to continue, because I knew that I’d be busy with school - I'm in my final year after all, and I wanted to pursue my new dream – that of a baker. So I pushed the dream of being a businesswoman back, and brought the baker dream to the fore. [Perhaps one day, I can kill two birds with one stone and be a baker-businesswoman] So anyway, I had too much time on my hands - I would spend time surfing the net aimlessly, and admiring other peoples' photography and writing, whilst thinking, if only I could photograph/write like that. And why not? So this blog was born on Christmas Day, after a week of waffling about and thinking whether I should or should not start a blog. I almost didn't start, because the first words were just so very hard to write. I had to write and edit and delete countless of times before I thought the post was ready to see the world. The pictures were of course, another pain in the ass.

But I’m glad that I’ve been blogging consistently for 3 months, proving that I'm not what my parents call hangat hangat tahi ayam. Malaysians will probably know what it means - literally meaning for as long as the chicken shit is hot (which is not very long) or in proper English, a short-lived pursuit. Not only have I made new virtual friends, having a blog makes me want to challenge myself continually, to not stick to the recipes I’m used to, but to venture out and try new recipes. The fact that I visit other blogs rather frequently (on a daily basis actually) helps too! And most importantly, I'm fulfilling my three main aims for the blog - to hone my baking/cooking skills, to improve on my photography skills, and to keep a digital record of recipes I've attempted (especially my mom's passed-down ones).

I'm giving away these Madagascar Vanilla Beans :)

To congratulate myself on passing the 3-month mark, and to thank you for supporting me on this journey, my dear blogger friends and readers, I figured a vanilla bean giveaway would be apt. If you recall, I bought a number of Madagascar vanilla beans last year, to make some homemade vanilla extract and for use in my recipes. Well, thing is, I bought close to a hundred beans, because they were cheaper in bulk. I was just using my vanilla bean the other day and when I saw how many I had left, I thought, I’d better give some away in case they deteriorate in quality =X (I assure you that they still smell as fragrant as before!) I've to admit that I'm not too sure if these are the top grade vanilla beans, because I know that there's grade A and it wasn't stated if these were or not. However, grade A or not, these are pretty decent beans! Just leave one bean out in the open and the vanilla fragrance will permeate the room in a few minutes! You don't even have to slice it open! An inch of vanilla bean is equivalent to one teaspoon of vanilla extract, and trust me, this will be the best substitute you’ll ever use in your baking because the difference in depth of fragrance and taste you get is phenomenal! 

So to start one of you off on your vanilla bean journey, I’ve decided to give 5 vanilla beans away to one lucky winner. Hopefully, these five vanilla beans will provide you with a springboard into using vanilla beans in your recipes. You’ll be able to attempt at least 5 recipes requiring vanilla beans – think of crème patisserie or vanilla bean cookies or vanilla bean pound cake or even vanilla ice cream - the possibilities are endless really! If you're particularly courageous, you can try Adriano Zumbo's V8 cake here - it's vanilla paradise for any vanilla lovers :] If you don't win this giveaway, don't worry because I have a few ideas up my sleeve and I just might have another giveaway sooner than you think :] Also, you can get the vanilla pods from local baking supply stores at about S$6 for 2 thereabouts. Or psssst if you'd like to help me cut down on my supply of vanilla beans, I'd be more than happy to sell some to you at the price I got them for. Just drop me an email here!

All you have to do to enter the giveaway is drop me a comment with your email address and name, and tell me what item you will make with the vanilla bean if you win it and you’ll stand a chance of winning :] I would love it if you actually did bake that particular something after winning the beans and shared it with me. Or it could be anything else you baked with the vanilla bean. I'd love to include you (and your recipe) in my series on vanilla-related posts (coming soon!) on the blog! This giveaway to both Singapore and Malaysia residents, and will close on 3 April at 3pm, and I'll choose a winner using a random number generator after that :]

In the meantime, happy baking everyone!

Wordless Wednesday #01 - Capri

Yes, the sky and sea is really that blue.

This marks my first entry in Wordless Wednesday. Ironically, this post won't be wordless because I thought to explain that I hope to make this a start of a series showcasing the travel aspect of my life - mainly the amazing places I've been to and things I've seen over the recent years. So I shall let the photo speak a thousand words on my behalf.

PS: Compressing my photo into a smaller size has made the shrubbery on the bottom right of the picture and the cliffs look a tad weird? 

Focaccia #1: Focaccia Genovese

My best friend came over to my place to bake some time ago, during our mutual free day. She isn't one to bake bread, but she was very inspired by 제빵왕 김탁구 (King of Baking, Kim Tak Goo)! I'm sure from the name you can tell that it's related to baking - bread specifically. It's a typical Korean drama, with complicated sub-plots and vengeance and revenge and what not, but that's besides the point. The point is that, there is alot of baking done in the show! Here's a tiny clip of the father baking :)

Well, this is not exactly inaccurate, as the clip owner suggests, because breads do contain eggs. The only gripe I had was how fast the bread proofed and rose but well, it's a show after all right! 

Anyway, my friend wanted to bake a bread, so I was racking my brains as to which bread would be easy to do AND yummy to eat. I finally decided on focaccia, because both of us had an enjoyable time in Italy and focaccia is something that is pretty hard to go wrong on. Previously, I'd only used the no-knead recipe for focaccia breads (which yield damn tasty breads btw), but in this case, since my friend wanted to experience the feeling of making breads herself, the no-knead recipe was a no-go, because I'd have to put together the ingredients the night before and only do some brief kneading before putting the bread in the oven. My search brought me to Amiscell's blog, a native Italian living in Singapore. His blog isn't frequently updated nowadays, but do take a look at his archives if you're interested in Italian cooking! Like most Italians, he probably goes by the motto of fresh produce, cooked simply. That's what I totally love about Italian cuisine. How pasta and pizza and breads in Italy (oh not forgetting gelato!) can taste so good - just because the freshest and best quality ingredients are used. I once ate a tortellini dish in Modena, and it was "just" tortellini in broth, but I tell you, it was the one of the best, and by far the most memorable meal I had in Italy. The trattoria had no menu, and it was definitely family-run. The daughter came up to us, speaking to us in Italian. Luckily, I could understand little bits of Italian (I'm pretty good with Italian food names hehe - and French ones as well heh) and we managed to order ourselves a primo, a secondo with some contorno and dolce :] That's basically a first course of pasta (I had tortellini and I also tried their tagliatelle which was AWESOME), a second course of meat (I forgot what meat I had actually because the pasta was so excellent), contorno is basically side dishes of vegetables/salad to go with the secondo and dessert! Of course, there is the caffè served after the meal, to cleanse your palate. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures to go along with the description but you've to trust me on this - it was dee-li-cious!

OH and I totally forgot the most important part - while waiting for the meal, I had the most wonderful basket of bread, together with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. And lambrusco of course. The bread, consisted of what I think is a variation of focaccia - because there's probably a million variations of focaccia in Italy and it basically just refers to any flatbread. Modena is in the province where balsamic vinegar originated - Emilia-Romagna (since the Middle Ages!), and I tell you, it is seriously THE BEST balsamic vinegar you'll ever have, period. I've eaten at quite a number of Italian establishments in Singapore, and so far, no balsamic vinegar served here even comes close to beating the ones served in Modena. The aceto balsamico is served in tiny round-bottomed flasks, with cork-stoppers which have red wax seals on them. I've had the pleasure of trying those aged 12 years and 25 years (the premium types), and it is just phenomenal. It's totally unlike any type of vinegar with balsamic vinegar is actually sweet, but it has this sour bite that is not over the top, making the sweetness totally acceptable. It's quite a lousy description because you'll really only understand what I mean when you taste it!

Anyway, enough of my rambling - I do get quite passionate about my food adventures in Europe, and I had a number of them considering that I spent a year there - I decided to make focaccia genovese, which basically translates to Genoa focaccia, or focaccia of Genoa. Genoa is a province in Liguria, which is in Northwest Italy (I especially remember Genoa because it's Genova in Italian, and the Princess in Princess Diaries (played by Anne Hathaway) came from the Kingdom of Genovia - which is rather similar in spelling lol. Anyhow, focaccia genovese is really a staple of Ligurian cuisine - and wikipedia defines it as a flat bread of up to 2 cm, seasoned with olive oil and salt. So what we've attempted below is really an onion-and-thyme-topped homage to focaccia genovese :]

Love the burnt bits of onion :] I used dried thyme here btw.

I actually followed Amiscell's recipe to a T, and he has some lovely step-by-step pictures for those interested. You'll need to set aside about 4 hours of your time for baking this, out of which 1 hour will be active time - ie, time that you'll be kneading and shaping, the rest of the time is basically waiting for the yeast and flour to do its magic, and you can do anything else you want to do while waiting. Don't be put off by the many steps and the 4 times of proofing - it isn't too bad and my instructions below should be quite clear!

Focaccia Genovese
Makes enough for a 35cm by 28cm baking tray

Ingredients: 

For the bread: 
200 ml   water, at room temperature
20 g       extra virgin olive oil
7 g         salt
3 g         sugar
340 g     bread flour
7g          dry yeast

For the topping: 
Some olive oil mixed with some warm water (in 3:1 proportions)
Some sea salt
And anything else you desire - I used 1 tbl of dried thyme and half an onion. 

Method:

1. Dissolve the yeast in water (about 20-30ml of the 200ml should suffice). 
2. Mix the rest of the water, sugar, olive oil, salt and half the flour (170g) into a large mixing bowl. 
3. Pour the yeast-water mixture into the dough and knead until it is fully incorporated.
4. Add in the remaining flour, and continue kneading until the dough becomes tacky, and not excessively sticky. This should take about 10-20 minutes of hand kneading. 
5. Place the dough in the bowl and cover it with a damp tea towel. Let the dough rest for about 15 minutes at room temperature. 
6. Take the dough out of the bowl and stretch the dough slightly, so that you can do a letter fold. This is basically mentally dividing the dough in three and folding the two ends into the centre. This is your first horizontal fold. Turn your dough 90 degrees and do the same letter fold - this will be your vertical fold. Your dough should be about 30% the size of the tray you are baking it in. 
7. Pour some olive oil onto a baking tray, making sure that it evenly coats the entire tray. Place your folded dough onto the tray, and make sure it is evenly coated with olive oil on both sides as well. Let the dough rest for a 2nd time, for about 45 minutes, or until it has doubled in size. 
8. Using the heel of your hands, press the dough into the tray, flattening it until the whole tray is covered with the dough. Sprinkle some salt (preferably sea salt) onto the top to give the focaccia flavor. Let the dough rest for the 3rd time, for about 30 minutes. 
9. Pour some more olive oil into a bowl, and add some water to it to mix. Using clean palms, dip your hands with the oil-water mixture, and massage the liquid onto the top of your focaccia to spread it uniformly. After this, using your fingers (8 fingers minus the thumbs) - make depressions in the focaccia from the top to the bottom. You can add more of the olive-water mixture so that it sinks into the depressions. The oil-coated depressions will form softer areas when baked, which juxtaposed nicely against the crispy crust. 
10. At this point, add your favorite toppings to the focaccia. Here, I added sliced onions and dried thyme. 
11. Let the focaccia rest for a 4th and final time - for about 60 minutes. The dough would have risen to about 1.5 times its height. It does not matter if it doesn't rise as much since this is a flatbread! 
12. At about 30 minutes into the 4th proofing, preheat your oven at 220 degrees. 
13. Place the dough into the oven and bake for 15 minutes, or until the focaccia is golden brown. 
14. Remove from oven, and immediately remove the focaccia from the tray and onto a cooling rack to cool for 10 minutes before slicing. This is to make sure that the bottom of the focaccia does not turn soggy from the steam. Brush generously with the olive-oil mixture before serving. 

Janine's jots: 

• The original recipe uses 3g of malt instead of sugar, but I don't think most Singaporean bakers will have malt lying around their kitchen, and sugar really is quite a fine substitute in my opinion. 
• If you are not kneading by hand, you can still use this recipe using a mixer - the time used in step 4 for kneading will most likely be reduced by half. 
• You can use light olive oil or extra virgin olive oil or plain normal olive oil - it's all fine but just remember that olive oil will have a stronger taste. Italians are quite liberal in their use of olive oil, so don't be stingy when pouring the olive oil onto the focaccia!
• If you have a pizza stone, do use it instead to bake your focaccia because this will give a more evenly baked crust and bottom. 

In pictures:

This is the dough after the 2nd proofing. We've pressed it to cover the entire baking tray. Do try to use your hand to flatten it and don't stretch it because you want uniform thickness!

Do try to slice your onions thickly - 5mm would be great and remember to press them into the dough, otherwise they will fall off when baked! Also, the onions might look a lot, but it's only half an onion and once baked, it's actually not that much after all! A whole onion would have been perfect!

This is the completed focaccia! I've quite a bit of burnt onion because they weren't sliced thick enough. Also, I'm not a fan of too much olive oil, which explains why you see more golden brown bits as compared to the whitish bits, which are the depressions containing the olive-oil mixture.

Yet another gratuitous shot of the focaccia. Do note that the depressions you made in step 9 will result in the white parts you see above because there is more oil in the depressions. These parts, eaten together with the crusty parts - are just perfect!

This will be the first of my focaccia posts (I'll have at least 3 more focaccia posts with different recipes in each) and I've to admit after trying out a number of recipes, this is the second recipe I will go to if I want to eat focaccia genovese the traditional way. The first (and my favorite) recipe I will go to is Peter Reinhart's focaccia recipe, which I'll post soon. There is a longer waiting time for his recipe (overnight proofing in the fridge) - but it's worth it. 

List of Baking Supplies Stores in Singapore

When I first started out with baking, I've to admit that besides Phoon Huat, I knew of very few baking places or baking shops. So I actually went on this spree where I compiled a long long list of baking supplies stores from the internet, and went to each and every one of these stores below, just to take a look and perhaps, buy things. I actually managed to take pictures of the interior and exterior of most of them using my iPhone, but since it crashed on me not long ago without me backing up those photos, sadly those pictures are gone. I know many people would think I'm crazy, but I'm really very cheapo in more ways that one, and I'd really go out of my way to get a certain thing if it's cheaper in a certain place - including transport and time costs of course, I'm not that dumb :o Anyway, I know most people might have a usual place that they go to for ingredients, but I figured a list would be helpful for anyone new (like I was) who might be wondering if there's any store nearby selling X ingredient. I was sort of a pest, asking some bloggers where they got X or Y ingredient because I had no idea where to get them when I was new to baking.  

I'll start with the more popular/common stores before highlighting the others. The stores are in no particular order really. They are mainly baking supplies or bakeware stores, but they do sell cookware and other accessories needed for adventures in the kitchen. Some also hold cooking and baking classes for the enthusiast - just check out the webpages to take a look!

ETA: If you want to have an idea of how prices of different brands of chocolate, cocoa powder and butter differ among these stores - do check out my post on price comparisons of baking ingredients in Singapore. 

Just a little disclaimer that I have not been remunerated by anyone to list these stores down, and comments of each place are solely my own. 

List of Baking Supplies Stores in Singapore 

1.  Cold Storage supermarkets
• List of branches here
• Comments: Everyone knows that these places contain the most basic of ingredients - flour, sugar, salt and whatnot. The bigger branches will have more unique baking ingredients.  Most Cold Storage branches (I esp like the Great World City one because it is HUGE and has lots of stuff) have an assortment of Bob's Red Mill's flours - which I find helpful for bread making and they have a huge range of butters as well. PLUS these supermarkets do home delivery if you spend above a certain amount!
• Also, Cold Storage runs this premium market place called Jason's or Marketplace - and they have a HUGE range of imported goods (mainly to cater to expats) but you can find canned blueberries, frozen raspberries, puff pastry sheets, etc here! If you are baking for a vegan - find the flours you need here, seriously!
2. NTUC supermarkets
• List of branches here
• Fairprice Finest branches have quite a huge variety of creams with various butterfat content for baking, as well as a huge variety of organic ingredients for baking. The baking ingredients aisle is pretty long :] They also sell baking equipment like Wilton trays, etc.
• In my opinion, it's generally cheaper than Cold Storage. 
3. Giant supermarkets
• List of branches here
• Mostly selling more plebian baking items. 
4. Other supermarkets
• Obviously, there's Carrefour and Isetan (good for Japanese baking stuff) but I wanted to highlight ThreeSixty Supermarket in Ion. Most people probably don't know about it since it's located all the way up in Ion's 4th floor and they obviously cater to people living there. The prices are rather jacked up, and the space is what I call atas (Malay for up or high, but colloquialism for 'catering to the higher echelons of society' - this is the nicest way I can put it). They have lots of imported goods - Waitrose products and SUPER DELICIOUS chips which I can't remember the brand now for the life of me. They also have stuff like Fage greek yogurt, choices of buttermilk and half-and-halves, like 20 types of flour, and they have a huge selection of pasta (fresh!). I particularly love the food section but that's irrelevant here, hehe. Note that this supermarket doesn't go easy on your pocket!
5. Phoon Huat
• List of store locations here
• Note that the stores have different opening hours, remember to check before going! Also, sometimes things go out of stock, so I usually give the branch I'm going to a call to check. 
• Well, who doesn't know about Phoon Huat? They were initially called Red Man, with a few branches scattered around Singapore, but have expanded (so has their product variety!) If you need a single place to go to satisfy your baking needs, Phoon Huat should be able to do it, unless you're looking for expensive French butter or Valrhona chocolate. I especially like Phoon Huat because I'm their member and have a 5% discount hehe. They have baking accessories, cupcake liners... basically almost everything! 
6. ToTT
• Address: 896 Dunearn Road, #01-01A, Singapore 589472
• Contact: 62197077
• Opening Hours: 11am to 10pm daily 
• Webpage: here
• This megastore just opened last year, and it's a venture of Sia Huat, which is this huge kitchen equipment and everything-food supplier. I like the fact that it's huge and has lots of space, but it doesn't have much of baking ingredients here I'm afraid. If I remember correctly, they have nut powders in a tiny fridge, but that's about all. If however you are looking for baking equipment, you've come to the right place! All sorts of sizes and shapes of pans, trays, and what-have-you here! I bought a cute flour sieve here because I couldn't leave empty-handed! The only thing I didn't like was that parking was quite troublesome and I had to pay :(
• Oh, and you should check out the website to note the classes they are conducting if you're interested in any. 
7. Sun Lik Trading
• Address: 33 Seah Street, Singapore 188389
• Contact: 63380980
• Opening Hours: 8.30am to 6.30pm from Mondays to Fridays, 8.30am-6pm on Saturdays, closed on Sundays. 
• Webpage: http://sunliktrading.com/
• Now, this is the place to go if you've been looking for a place to get Valrhona or Callebaut chocolate. They have all sorts of good quality ingredients here, but it's rather small. They also have small selections of trays and other equipment. 
8. Bake-it-yourself
• Address: 182 Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 229853
• Contact: 68871258
• Opening Hours: 11am to 7pm, Mondays to Saturdays, closed on Sundays. 
• Webpage: http://www.b-i-y.com/
• You might have problems looking for a place to park but this is a decorator's dream I think. It's pink on the inside, and there's two floors worth of candy moulds, cute tins, sprinkles, etc. The upside is that it has huge variety (you can check out the website for an indication) but downside is that it is a little costly. 
9. Pantry Magic Lemon Zest
• Address: 43 Jalan Merah Saga, Chip Bee Gardens, #01-80, Holland Village, Singapore 278115
• Contact: 64710566
• Webpage: http://www.lemonzestlife.com/
• This same store used to be known as Pantry Magic, but after some renovation works earlier in the year, they've changed their name to Lemon Zest. They no longer sell baking ingredients, with the exception of Nielsen-Massey vanilla and other extracts. They mostly sell bakeware, cookware, beautiful cake stands and other pots and pans. They also sell books and magazines! 
10. Shermay's Cooking School
• Address: 43 Jalan Merah Saga, Chip Bee Gardens, #01-76, Holland Village, Singapore 278115
• Contact: 64798442 / 74798414
• Opening Hours: 10am - 8.30pm daily 
• Webpage: http://www.shermay.com
• As the name suggests, they are actually more well-known for their cooking and baking classes, which are conducted by famous chefs and are widely received in Singapore. Their store also doubles up as a retail store, which sells accessories for Kitchenaid, Nordicware items, as well as Valrhona Chocolate. Also a source for French butter, Elle & Vire. 
11. Kitchen Capers
• Address: Block 71, Kallang Bahru #01-531F, Singapore 330071
• Contact: 63920159
• Opening Hours: 10am to 8.30pm daily 
• Webpage: http://www.kitchencapers.net
• This originally started as an online store, but it now has a retail location. This is yet another option for those staying in the East - it also sells interesting ingredients that you can't get in say, Phoon Huat. If you're looking for egg white powder for macarons heh (not meringue powder, mind you) or Valrhona etc type of chocolates, you can get them here. The online store provides you with an indication of price, which I like. 
12. Gim Hin Lee
• Address: Block 10, Haig Road, #01-363/5, Singapore 430010
• Contact: 67428388
• Opening Hours: 9am to 9pm Monday - Saturday, 9am to 6pm on Sunday. 
• This store is really convenient staying in the East, but because it's located in a neighbourhood, transport options aren't really that great. It sells a similar variety of items to Phoon Huat - so no expensive baking ingredients here. They are also the official retail location for Bake King products. They have an official online store page here for you to purchase items and have them delivered to you!
13. Ailin Bakery House
• Address: 845 Geylang Road #01-48, Tanjong Katong Complex, Singapore 400845
• Contact: 67432693
• This is yet another option for Eastsiders - it is a really small shop, but they sell a huge variety of things. From what I've read online, their house brand ingredients are really popular - pineapple paste for pineapple tarts during the new year, essences, as well as cake and muffin mixes. 

People who know me know that I'm addicted to lists. I like listing down things, so I do hope this list helps someone - if there are any errors to anything above, do let me know and I'll amend it!

For those interested in seeing the interior of some of the places (BIY, Sun Lik, Gim Hin Lee), do check out the video links on the right sidebar of Oi Lin's blog. 

Ps, for those in Malaysia - I found a list which might be helpful too!

Strawberry & Pistachio Financiers

I am working my way up the French pastry food chain, slowly and steadily. Over the span of the last year, I’ve attempted choux puffs, éclairs (which are essentially choux puffs with cream and chocolate), tuiles and macarons, and I’ve diligently noted down the recipes that work for me and other comments in my handy little spiral bound notebook.

I am a girl on a mission, really. I am on a mission to master baking techniques, and I think French pastry is a good way to start. Nowhere else have I encountered such need for precision and skill as I have in the making of French pastry. The fact that I love French pastry is a huge plus, of course. I still remember the day when Jon and I stepped into Ladurée, and I bought a huge box of macarons, as well as this tiny delightful pastry, which I forgot the name of, because I was so bedazzled by all that variety of pastries. But nevertheless, the first bite into the pastry brought me to pastry heaven. I realized then why I paid 3 euros for a tiny little thing which was half the size of my palm, and why Ladurée is as famous as it is today. The outside was crispy, but the moment you bit into it, the crisp exterior gave way to a soft flakey, buttery interior which contained just the right amount of sugar and flavor within those layers. (Not that its macarons were not good, but that tiny pastry left a deeper impression on me than the macarons because I’m not too much for overly sweet pastries.) I want to accomplish that one day – that something of mine will evoke such great enjoyment on another that it will leave an indelible impression in that person’s memories. That, to me, is the epitome of good baking.

Anyway, rambles aside, I’m working my way down my imaginary pastry list and today, I can tick financiers off it. I’m actually moving onto viennoiserie items such as pains (which is French for bread and not pain as in ouch) and croissants pretty soon because I’ve been buoyed up by the fact that the flakey piecrust I made was a huge success with my parents and puff pastry has been calling my name for the longest time! After that, I’m gonna hop on back to harder types of French pastry (in my opinion), like the croquembouche (which figuratively killed many contenders in Masterchef Australia), mille-feuille and most importantly, those complicated gateaus that I’ve been dying to try!

Now, time for a little history. You can skip this entire part if you’re not history-inclined but I am a history buff and information junkie, and I really like to research extensively about any new ‘thing’ I’m trying out. Well according to Dorie Greenspan in Paris Sweets and here as well, “The financier is a pure-bred Parisian, having been created in the late nineteenth century by a pastry chef named Lasne, who had a shop on the rue Saint-Denis near the Bourse, the city's stock exchange.  Lasne had a bead on his clients:  he knew that they were rich, discriminating and always in a hurry, so he designed his little unglazed cookie-cake so that it could be eaten without a knife, fork or spoon and without risk to suit, shirt or tie.  It was an early and classy form of fast food.”

Now, I do believe it was intentional on Lasne’s part, that he did a number of intelligent things with the financier. First, he named it financier, which we all know in plain English means someone (usually rich and a big shot) in the finance industry – this must have really piqued those financiers’ (the person) attention! Second, he baked these cakes in shallow rectangular pans, such that they resembled ingots or gold bars, lending itself to its namesake. And most importantly, he used really rich and expensive ingredients like butter and almond (back in those days they were luxurious and rich), and I can bet my money that those financiers got a kick out of being able to afford these ingot-like tea cakes which plebian people could not afford!

Onto the cake itself – the main reason I attempted this recipe was because I had pistachios lying around which I had originally intended for pistachio macarons, but I decided on financiers instead because I wanted to try something different, something cakey instead. Usual financier recipes use almond meal - like you see in Dorie's recipe which I've linked above. The other attractive thing about the financiers was the fact that they used browned butter, and that they would be tiny cookies with a crispy exterior giving way to a nutty, not-so-crumbly interior. This was what drew me in the most. I love food with hard or crispy or crunchy exteriors!

Now for my blasphemous admissions - I’ve to admit that though I did try chouquettes and madeleines in France, I never did come across a financier. It might be because my eyes weren’t exactly on a lookout for them or maybe because I was too eager hoping into boulangeries to get baguettes and croissants that I didn’t have much time for financiers. So I’m actually making these financiers with no basis of comparison. Second, I didn’t have those shallow rectangular pans which are characteristic of a financier, so I settled for my muffin pan instead. And, I used a recipe which asked for whipped egg whites despite reading that a quick mix with normal egg whites will do =/ Nevertheless, I thought this recipe turned out pretty well!

Strawberry & Pistachio Financiers 

Makes 6 6-cm (Ø) financiers, adapted from Leemei (do check out her photos of these financiers - they look awesome!)

Ingredients:

25 g ground almonds

50 g ground pistachios

45 g unsalted butter

40 g icing sugar

15 g all-purpose flour

45 g egg whites (about 1.5 eggs)

⅛ tsp salt

¼ tsp vanilla extract 

Method:

1. Grind the pistachios and almonds into powder. You can roast them for about 10 minutes at 160°C if you want a nuttier taste to emerge in your financiers.
2. In the meantime, place the butter into a saucepan and put it on medium heat to start ‘browning the butter’. This basically is melting down the butter until it turns slightly brown and emits this nutty aroma. Take off heat once it’s done and allow it to cool.
3. In a bowl, sieve the ground nut powders, together with flour and icing sugar.
4. Beat the egg whites until you get soft peaks.
5. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add your vanilla extract. Mix in the whipped egg whites. Once incorporated, mix in the cooled browned butter. Be sure to only use the liquid from the browned butter and not the solids. *In my ingredient proportions above, I’ve taken into account the loss of weight from browning the butter (the original recipe only needs 37g worth of melted butter).
6. After mixing everything, you should get a batter which is almost similar to a madeleine batter. Cover this up and put it into the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours. (I left mine overnight.)
7. Preheat your oven to 180°C. In the meantime, take your batter out of the fridge and spoon your mixture into the mould. 
8. Wash, hull and slice your strawberries before placing them on top each of your financier. If you wish, you can chop up some more pistachios to sprinkle on top. 
9. Bake for 20 minutes or until the tops of the financiers turn golden brown and are dry to touch. Remove from the moulds and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before consuming them. You can add some icing sugar atop each for decorative purposes (or added sweetness) if you like =)

Janine’s tips: 

• Be sure to mix the batter as little as possible, because you don’t want the gluten in the flour to form extensively and give you a tough financier. Some recipes require a resting period for the financier (like this recipe), but others do not. I’m not too sure why, but I suspect it’s to enhance the contrast between the crusty outside and a soft, moist inside. 
• After chilling your mixture in the fridge, you might have to wait for a couple of minutes before the batter is amenable to scooping because the batter hardens a fair bit after it's chilled! Also, you don’t need to grease your moulds because the batter is quite rich and should come off easily when the financiers are baked.
• Some people don't recommend the use of strawberries, because its high moisture content might result in it sinking to the bottom of the batter. I didn't face such a problem but if you are afraid of sinking strawberries, one tip is to bake the batter for about 2-3 minutes, before opening the oven door to add your strawberry slices. You don't need to be afraid of sinking tops because there isn't any rising involved for financiers!
• Most importantly, pay attention to your butter when you’re browning it! Because of the small quantity of butter, it melts really quickly and the entire process is but a few minutes! Keep your nose close to the saucepan to smell for that ‘nutty’ aroma and once you do, take the pan off the heat! If you get a dark brown liquid, my advice is for you to throw it away and to start again, because it’ll taste bitter.
• I also discovered something amazing you can do with your food processor (or in my case, my chopper!) I used my mini food chopper to grind up my nuts, and because I saw that some recipes required whipped egg whites and some did not, I wasn't too concerned about clean bowls and equipment for the egg whites, so I dumped the whites into the same chopper I'd used before and pulsed it for about 5 minutes. The egg whites emerged softly whipped, similar to what you get from a mixer! The only downside is that my chopper did get pretty heated up and it is small, so perhaps whites from 3 eggs would be the maximum it can take.  

In pictures: 

The batter before I started folding in the egg whites. My dry ingredients look a little gravelly because I didn't grind the nuts finely since I wanted a more 'chewy' texture

Spoon the batter into the moulds and place your sliced strawberries on top! You can slice them or chop them, as you wish =)

And here's another photo, just because the light was soooo good today :)

Some of my financiers were a little overbaked - spot the black parts? =/

Also, from what I’ve read, friands are like an Australian relative – I’ve compared several recipes and friands basically contain almost the same proportion of nut meal to butter as do financiers. The only difference it seems is that friands are typically baked in small oval pans.

See the heart shape from the strawberry?

Strawberries lend themselves really well to Valentine's and I think it's partly because of its shape! If you slice the strawberry properly, you’ll get an instant heart shape! 

But most importantly, I think strawberries depict love and what it entails very well - they are actually really ugly looking on the outside - I mean, come on, look at those pits with seeds and tiny hairs sticking out of them! but if you bite into them, you'll be rewarded with this sweet, and sometimes tart, flesh. And so, because I believe that love should not be celebrated merely on Valentine's, this is another post dedicated to my valentine, assuming he still has the time to read my blog. I hope you are eating your mandatory 4 pancakes every morning! I'm also submitting it to Aspiring Bakers #4: Love is in the Air (Feb 2011), which is hosted by Ellena this month.