Schoooool.....

...I know, I feel like it's been forever since I updated...time just flies, you know? Especially when taking an 11-week course that's condensed into 5 weeks. We're talking one to two-page paper due every two days or so. The papers sometimes involves making a mini-field trip to the local grocery store and checking the prices and quality of products, online research, etc....

So I haven't had much time to bake or come up with new sweets. But the fruits and the bounties of summer months are finally at their peak, lavishly adorning the store shelves and people's yards.

Our family friend invited us over to pick some Japanese plums and raspberries. They love growing them, but apparently do not really eat them much; my mom and I were more than happy to help them get rid of the fruits.



Upon getting home with the raspberries and the plums, piped some vanilla cream onto a hazelnut tartlet crust I've made earlier, bejewelled them with crown of berries, sprinkled some powdered sugar on top...

...gave them to the friends who generally gave us their fruits. They were delighted that their raspberries came back all fancied up like this.

That night, I used the vanilla cream, the crust, and the leftover egg whites for the meringue to make desserts for my family. After spooning the cream into the crust, I embedded some blueberries (by this time, my mom and I had eaten all the remaining raspberries) into the cream, piped the meringue on top, and broiled it for about a minute.

Berry Meringue Tartlet! Topped with a cherry compote and a pistachio nut.

But I personally wanted something lighter, so I omitted the crust and the cream. I just spooned a generous heap of meringue into a cup, sprinkled some sugar on top, and broiled it.
The result was so airy, light, and delicious...it was like eating sweetened cumulus with berries.

Then one toasty day, Mom and I decided it was about time we cleaned out the very crowded freezer. We came across several small bags of fossilized dried figs and dates. Mom said she'll toss them into the compost, but I knew I could make some use of them.

After soaking them in brandy, I slow-cooked them for about two hours, adding brandy and water to give life back into them...voila! Dried fruit spread, perfect on crackers with some Brie cheese. It's delicious as is, but after tasting it, I knew I just had to make...

...homemade Fig Newtons! They were a little overdone, but tasted great.

An Update and Back to School!

*PHEW* Finally, an update! Despite the fact I am no longer employed (a.k.a. jobless), I've surprisingly remained constantly busy. I have, however, managed to squeeze in some baking and dessert making inbetween.

A few weeks ago, we visited a family friend, who owns a cherry tree. The cherries were quite tart, meant to be used for pies only. She gave us several pounds of them; both Mom and I spent a couple of hours pitting the cherries and canning them.

Was it all worth it? Well.....

Maybe. I made cherry tarts with them...it was OK, nothing to die for or rave about.

Then, my friends from Culinary School got together for a BBQ to celebrate the end of summer vacation/start of new quarter.

On the grill: Shishkabobs and chicken wings.

One can definitley expect some quality dishes at Cooking School Students' potlucks. I took my banana coffeecake for dessert. The casserole in the lower left is a creamy imitation crab and spinach casserole. It was so good!

Then my friend M brought a marble cake she made at work!

We chatted and just had good times while watching the sunset from the balcony.

Then a few days later....

I jazzed up the banana coffeecake leftover from the BBQ for family dessert. I know, both Mom and I have been so busy we've been putting off some of the housework/cooking/etc...things would be a little less hectic if my Dad will help us. But alas....
And then...School started! It's been a while since I've been this stoked to go back to school. This quarter, I have Purchasing & Product Identity and Intro to Baking Science and Theory.

Purchasing & Product Identity is an online course, but we learn the basics of how to purchase, what to look for in determining product quality, what's available in the market, etc. It's an 11-week course condensed into 5 weeks, in spite of the class being online, it is still pretty intense.

Then the Baking class...wow.

First day of class, we got assigned into groups. Again, sometimes, people in the group is the determining factor in how the products turn out.

We baked Buttermilk biscuits, Lemon Bread, Blueberry Muffins, and Chocolate Chip Cookies. The biscuits turned out good, Lemon Bread fell apart, but tasted delicious, muffins were also OK, and our cookies...well...it spread pretty badly. The person in my group misread the recipe and didn't put in brown sugar. He didn't even realize it called for brown sugar until I pointed it out. By then, the dough was already ready to be baked. He hurriedly creamed in the brown sugar... so yes, it got overmixed quite a bit.

But I don't feel too bad, since other groups' cookies didn't turn out too well either. Apparently, the recipes we used were written in the East Coast. In other words, here in Utah, the recipes would need to be adjusted to account for the higher altitude.

So that was the first day of Baking class. Next time: Shortcakes, Sugar Cookies, Coffee Cake, and Peanutbutter Sandies!

My Birthday Part II

So my birthday was on Tuesday, and my parents took me out to lunch. Well...they took me out for the second time on Wednesday! We went to Naked Fish, a Japanese fine dining restaurant, where our family friend, Toshi, is the Executive Chef there.

My parents have been here before, but I've never been; so I just left the ordering up to them. Toshi came out from the kitchen and asked if there's anything on the menu we would like. My parents said that we're doing "Omakase"--basically, chef's choice menu, where he brings out whatever dishes he feels will suit our taste.

We started off with an appetizer of Sashimi Combo.

It was SO good! The fish slices were so fresh they melted in my mouth, and the shrimp head was still twitching ever so slightly. Toshi-san apparently sliced the shrimp ALIVE and plated it! He deep-fried the head for us, so we can munch on the delicious crunchiness.

I have to mention that this place uses the fresh wasabi. Not that pasty green stuff that comes in a tube. Fresh wasabi is a root that needs to be grated very finely before being served, and very perishable. But wow. It had an herbal fragrance and milder flavor that far outshines the prepared wasabi in a tube.

Sea Bass marinated in sake paste, then grilled to a juicy, succulent on the inside, crispy on the outside perfection.

Sashimi Salad--good sesame dressing!

Wagyu Beef cubes on skewers and roasted baby vegetables. The beef was barely pan-seared, and so juicy!

Assorted Nigiri Sushi. Again, very fresh fish, and the pickled ginger was delicious...we guessed that it's not store-bought, but prepared at the restaurant.

Toshi-san asks if we want any dessert, but we were pretty full by then. But we gave in when he mentioned he has this "Vietnamese Whatchamacallit" Dessert that he invented.

Vietnamese Whatchamacallit Dessert--vanilla ice cream, coconut sorbet, natadecoco jelly cubes, sweetened beans and blueberry. It was very refreshing and light dessert.

So that was my birthday lunch part II. It was the best mini-birthday party I've had in the long time :)

My Birthday Part I

Last Tuesday was my birthday!! *sigh* I'm another year older...
But my sweet parents took me out to Dodo Restaurant for birthday lunch.
It's a place I've been wanting to go to for a while, mainly for their extensive dessert menu. Apparently, it changes daily--a nice contrast to one of those "thaw, cut, and plate" desserts served at other restaurants.

It was a nice, modern restaurant, polished and sophisticated.
We decided to order two entrees and split them among the three of us.

Spinach & Feta Quiche, with creamy tomato soup and pinenut relish. Wow... the quiche was done just right, with crispy crust, and the pinenut relish went really well with the quiche.

Shrimp Salad Sandwich w/ Gazpacho. This was really good too, just the right amount of mayonnaise and flavor. I was surprised Dad liked the Gazpacho...despite the fact he hates cilantro.

Then it was time for the long-awaited dessert...
The restaurant have their dessert menu written on the black board mounted on the wall. Goodness...they must have had about twenty different selections! I had a hard time deciding which one to pick, but finally decided on the "Lundi Gras" Cake--mostly because I've never heard of it. The waiter comes up (this place has GREAT friendly service BTW) and asks if we would like a dessert. We said of course, and then I asked what the Lundi Gras Cake is like. As soon as I hear him describe it as "rich, thick, dark chocolate truffle...." I said, "OK, we're getting that one!!"

And this is the best part: he tells us that since it's the happy hour, the desserts are currently buy one, get one free...so we get to choose another one!!

So I ordered the Flan as well....

Flan with Caramel Sauce. It was pretty dense, not the texture I'm used to with Japanese-style flans, and really, really rich/heavy. Great flavor though.

Then lo and behold...the Lundi Gras Cake!

By this time, we were all quite full, so we took it home. We had it for dessert that night. OMGoodness. The genoise outer layer had a nice, amaretto flavor--just the right amount--but the truffle part was literally, like the thick chocolate cream filling in a Godiva truffle. I could tell that they used high quality chocolate for this. But alas, the cake was so rich, it took three of us THREE NIGHTS to finish it (we sliced it ever so thinly per serving)! ....And apparently there are people out there who can eat this cake in one sitting....

I would definitely come back to this place again, and try the other desserts!

So that was my birthday. Thank you Mom & Dad!