The Joys of Wisdom Teeth Extraction Part II

I'm still required to sleep with my head elevated at a 45-degree. To me that means:
1. Waking up with a neck/shoulder-ache
2. Blankets sliding off my shoulders, causing me to wake up in the middle of the night shivering from cold
3. Lack of sleep

Even with my head elevated, I still woke up with a swollen face. At least I can start drinking warm liquids again.

I realize that the surgical procedure itself isn't too horrible. I actually enjoyed the effects of nitrous. It's the post-surgical recovery that makes the whole surgery thing miserable. But hey, this is the perfect opportunity to experiment with different soups and smoothies! Strawberries and watermelon was on sale this week, so I made this Strawberry-Watermelon Gazpacho.

Technically gazpacho shouldn't be like a smoothie, it should have chunks of vegetables in it for texture--but alas, I can't chew yet. I combined strawberries, watermelon, a clove of garlic (marinated in vinegar and soy sauce), and some orzo (with sorrel-basil pesto) leftover from A la Carte Kitchen, and a dash of balsamic. Pureed everything together--and it worked! Tasted just like gazpacho, except without the tomato. Almost like a fruity salsa.

Then there's the Bible study coming up this Sunday...Since the last tart crust turned out way too tough, I wanted to give the crust another shot just for the sake of practice. That and we have lots of the aforementioned strawberries.

I tried a few different formulas, applied different mixing methods, different baking temperatures...
There appears to be two different ways of mixing: the creaming and the cutting. The former involves blending the softened butter with sugar, adding the eggs, then blending the flour without overmixing. The latter involves mixing dry ingredients, cutting in the butter, then blending in the eggs, again without overmixing.
The temperature is either 350F or 375F. So far, I've found out...

1. The 'creaming' method produced a sturdier, heavier, cookie-like crust, but tends to be pretty tough. I baked the first one at 350F. It turned out pretty, but upon cutting into it, it was almost as tough as the one I made two weeks ago. But when I smeared ganache on it, and let it sit in an airtight container overnight, it softened up and turned tender, just like shortbread. Don't know what happens if baked at 375F.

2. The 'cutting' method produced a more delicate, flakier, crisper crust. Baked this one at 375F. The edges got a little too dark to my liking, and it wasn't as smooth-looking as the 'creaming' method. But according to Mom, this was the type of crust that would come to her mind when she envisions 'tart crust'. On the other hand, she doesn't like the heavy American-pie dough, so it could be just her personal preference for the lighter, crispier crust--and the tart crust is actually supposed to be like a heavy cookie.


The above photos are the tart shells done via 'cutting' method. Crispy and delicate.

Next time, I'll try baking the dough made via 'cutting' method at 350F. Maybe the lower temperature will help retain the pretty outline. The dough made via 'creaming' I'll bake at 375F, see if that will make it more crisp and not as heavy. Maybe the 'creaming' method dough is perfectly fine, and it's supposed to be tough when it comes out of the oven--then once filled, the filling will add moisture and soften it up??

So much to learn, so much to experiment...

The Joys of Wisdom Teeth Extraction

So the day finally came...to get all my 4 wisdom teeth pulled out. I had one impacted, two that have completely grown out, and one that was halfway out.
My mom drove me to the clinic. The nurse explained the procedure, and put the nitrous mask on me. Within minutes, I was feeling really light--then I was out. That part was quite pleasant actually. I woke up and it was done. They gave me an Otter Pop and I sucked on that on the way home--I hadn't eaten since the night before.

Once home, mom immediately set up a spot on the couch. I was out for a few hours. The prolonged effect of the anesthesia definitely helped, and I managed to get some quality sleep.

I think the worst part about it was the bleeding. I had to have a wad of gauze in my mouth to stop the bleeding, and it almost took six hours before it finally subsided. Until then, I couldn't eat or drink anything! ...Although I sneaked a sip of ice tea inbetween gauze change. I don't know how many times I changed the gauze, but there's a pile of bloody mess in the trash can now... :(

As for meals, I ate some of the Lemon-Basil Sorbet we made in Advanced Desserts class, and it was very soothing. Mom made me pureed cabbage soup and sesame cereal mix that my sister gave us. She said it felt nostalgic to be making 'baby food' again.

Les Madeleine revisited

Before class in the afternoon, my mom and I went grocery shopping--there was no way I'll be able to go with her for the next few days since I'll be recovering from wisdom teeth extraction. So we went to our favorite grocery store--Sunflower Market--and on the way home, stopped at Les Madeleine. I liked the Meyer lemon tart here. The only thing that I makes me hesistant to come here is the price. Compared to other pastry shops, the stuff here are pretty pricey. Granted, they use quality ingredients, but I'm not sure if I want to pay $2 for a teeny-tiny macaron about the size of a half-dollar coin. But I figured I should at least try their other pastries.
I looked at their display case--boy were they pricey! Four dollars for a medium-sized cookie, $2.25 for a mini-cupcake... But if the the quality was outstanding, then price was something I was willing to overlook. So I bought an "Oriental Express" and a New York Cupcake. The saleslady put them in the cutest box and handed it to me.

Love the cute box!

And here they are....Oriental Express is basically a Paris-Brest with pistachio buttercream filling. I'm guessing the "Oriental" part comes from the fact that Turkey and Iran (and several other Middle Eastern countries are the producers of the highest quality pistachios. The New York (mini) cupcake is Valrhona chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting. The only reason I got it was because this was the only flavor available. So how were they? Well...

A bit disappointing unfortunately. The choux pastry was a bit tough, like it's been sitting there for a while. The pistachio buttercream was absolutely delicious though. Smooth, rich, creamy, and good pistachio flavor. Very nice!
The cupcake was definitely not worth the $2.25 price tag. The cake was pretty good, rich with bits of chocolate, but not too sweet. The frosting however, was a bit gritty, and too sweet with not much chocolate flavoring. Definitely better than the average grocery store cupcakes, but fades in comparison to the ones at pastry shops in San Diego.
If I was to go back here again, I would get the kouing-aman. This is apparently the only place that produces these flaky pastries, and I've never had them myself.

Hmmm...if I was to open a shop...I'm hoping to make pastries that would make people want to come back again and again.

My Uncle

Just received a call from my auntie in Japan early this morning. Worst case scenario.

The doctors opened his abdominal cavity, and promptly closed it back up. The cancer had spread to the point there is nothing they can do surgically. He will immediately start chemo, but he will have only few months to live.

We would definitely be traveling to Japan very soon...

A la Carte Kitchen Week 3

For the specialty ingredients this week, we had rhubarb, white asparagus, figs, spinach wonton wrappers, sunchokes (a.k.a. Jerusalem artichokes), ramps, chocolate mint, and... crawfish.

From these, Chef came up with the following menu....

Amuse: Rhubarb compote sushi
Bread: Sage & Brie Buttermilk Biscuit
Soup: White Asparagus Soup
Salad: Spring Greens with fresh figs and goat cheese mousse
Pasta: Spinach Wonton
Entree: Crawfish & Shrimp with Creamy Polenta
Dessert: Pineapple Confit & Angel Food Cake en Papillote

I redid the chalkboard...

Just some interesting info on the specialty ingredients. I didn't know sunchokes can be made into liquors.

Our Chef playing with crawfish finger puppet. She wanted to use the heads as garnish on the entree.

Amuse: Rhubarb compote sushi in soy wrapper and curry granola. The first time it was made, the rice was way too soggy--it was almost mush. I told the guy making it to cook the rice on the dry side--that way, it'll soak up the vinegar without getting mushy. He did it right the second time around. Although even with the rice done correctly, I still didn't like it. The combination of the vinegar from the rice and the tang from the rhubarb made this dish too sour.

Bread: Sage & Brie Cheese Buttermilk Biscuits, served with fig and molasses butter. It had good flavor, nice and cheesy; the sage added an herbal element to it. It was a bit too salty though.

Soup: White Asparagus Soup, with smoked pea shoot foam, rhubarb compote and rhubarb chips. The pea shoots were smoked in a stovetop smoker, pureed with milk and strained. The milk was foamed to order. I didn't care for the foam, but the soup itself tasted delicious!

Salad: Spring Greens with fresh figs, tangerine, and wild rice crouton. Tossed in citrus vinaigrette. The croutons are Wild Rice & Cranberry Quickbread sliced very thinly, then baked at a low temp until crisp. They were quite delicious, so I tried making them at home with the leftover wild rice. I sprinkled sugar on mine. It wasn't bad, but the quickbread recipe may need some tweaking; it contains no butter or eggs, just buttermilk, and the bread turned out pretty dense. The salad itself, however, was delicious.

Pasta: Spinach Wonton with Coconut-saffron foam, crispy pancetta, grilled ramp, and roasted sunchokes. The ravioli-like wonton had zucchini, ricotta, mozzarella, and Meyer lemon filling. To be honest, the only things I liked about this plate were the ramp and the sunchokes. The wontons were too soggy (we had several people point that out) and the fillings were bland.

Entree: Shrimp & Crawfish with creamy polenta, sauteed mushrooms, and chorizo. Served with nut-free pesto (hominy was used instead of the traditional pine nuts). There are several versions of polenta, but they are normally made from cornmeal. Restaurants often serve polenta as patties that are pan fried. Not too many people like it that way--it's too doughy and gummy almost. But this creamy version was much better. We used a 'cheese stock' to cook the polenta. The cheese stock is made by adding cheese rinds to the stock. Any cheese can be used; we used Parmesan, Gruyere, Seahive Cheddar (a local brand of artisan cheese), and blue cheese (possible Cambozola). I think the restaurants serve the pan-fried version because it's easier and the polenta can be made ahead of time--the creamy kind must be cooked slowly on the stove for several hours.

Dessert: Pineapple Compote & Angel Food Cake en papilliote, Pomegranate and Seville Orange-Lemon Sorbet, and pistachio biscotti. The brown 'dirt' is citrus ash, made by first roasting the citrus rinds til black, then pulverizing it. The compote was delicious, but the Seville Orange sorbet was too bitter and sour.

Good Friday & Earth Day

Today is Good Friday, the day Jesus got crucified and died on the cross. It's also Earth Day, the day that's "intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's natural environment" (definition courtesy of Wikipedia).

To honor both days, I wanted to plant a grape vine in our backyard...except it turns out there are already three kinds of grapes (one Concord, two unidentified) growing there. So I'm just gonna tend to them once the weather warms up.

After my family went to the Good Friday worship, we had a "healthy" dessert...

I think I'll call this one the "Five Black Mousse". I made it using the Taiwan Sugar Corporation's five black paste cereal mix. This mix contains black sesame, black rice, black soybean, black fungi, and black jujube--rich in calcium and fiber. My sister gave some to us when we went to visit her; she got them from her mother-in-law, who thought that these will help with lactation and nutrition while breastfeeding. It's mixed with hot water to make a thick drink. It was pretty tasty as is, but I wanted to try something different with it. There was a carton of organic whipping cream sitting in the fridge, so I decided to use that to make mousse. The recipe is based on a Bavarian cream recipe, but the consistency/texture turned out mousse-like. Mom actually liked it that way, and she thought it was very good.

Five Black Mousse (makes about 6 servings)

1 packet (7 g, or 0.25 oz) gelatin
2 egg yolks
1.5 oz sugar
1 cup milk
1 packet (30 g, or 1 oz) Mixed Cereal with Five black paste
1 cup whipping cream

-Add half of the sugar to the whipping cream. Whip to soft peaks. Set aside in fridge.

-Bloom gelatin in 1 oz. water. Pour milk in saucepot. Bring to boil.

-While heating milk, whisk remaining sugar with the yolks til pale. Whisk in the cereal mix, and the bloomed gelatin into the yolk mixture. There will (likely) be gelatin chunks in the mixture.

-Once the milk boils, slooooooowly add it to the yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Pour the mixture back into the saucepot, and heat over medium-low heat to completely dissolve the chunks of gelatin. DO NOT LET THIS THING BOIL. Once the gelatin dissolves, remove from heat and cool over ice bath (to cool it quickly). Stir until thickened to a sauce-like consistency. At this point, the mixture will still be warm.

-Whisk a third of the whipped cream into the mixture just until smooth. Fold in the remaining cream, being careful not to overmix. Divide into 6 custard cups, or in a fancy-schmancy glassware. Refrigerate til set, at least 3 hours.

I served it with anko and orange sauce. I was expecting it to be firmer, more like Bavarian Cream, but it turned out into a perfect mousse--soft and airy, with a good nutty flavor from the five black paste. The anko added a more profound sweetness and textural contrast to the mousse, while the tang from the orange sauce balanced out the sweetness. Maybe I'll serve with some cake or a cookie next time...

My Uncle

Just found out my uncle has stomach/duodenal cancer. According to my aunt, the stomach and the duodenum is "fused" together--in other words, the tumor has caused a blockage in his GI. He is due for surgery next week. At this point, they don't know whether it has spread to other organs. They won't find out until they cut him open...

So things aren't looking good for my uncle. We may have to go visit him in the near future, which may be difficult to do, with the current disaster situation over there.

Passover

"Why is this night different from all other nights?"

It was the night that God struck every firstborn, humans and animals alike, in the land of Egypt. Israelites escaped this plague by smearing lamb's blood on their doorposts as a mark, so God's spirit will "passover" their houses. Thus began the exodus of Israelites to the Promised Land.

This is mainly a Jewish holiday, but a lot of Christians also celebrate this holiday, due to its close ties to The Last Supper. Traditional Passover meals include lambs, bitter herbs, and matzo, an unleavened bread (it's like a very bland cracker). But for me, a budding pastry chef, I wanted to (of course) make a dessert for Passover....

...Passover Lamb Cake! Vanilla chiffon layered with anko and strawberries, covered with sweetened whipped cream.

The combination of anko with the cream is divinely delicious. The slightly tangy strawberry balances out the flavor spectrum.

Why such extravagant on such a humbling night? Because grace is so amazingly sweet.

Gastronomical Adventures: Dolcetti Gelato and Normandie revisited

The day started out pretty dark, gloomy, snowy (yes, it snows in April here), and Dad was being sulky, whiny, reclusive--again. Mom and I wanted to go grocery shopping, and asked him if he wanted to come along; because really, going shopping is pretty much the only we can get him to go out into the sun and much-needed exercise. At first he refused, but when I mentioned that we're planning on going to this gelato place in downtown, he had second thoughts. While shopping, we can tell that his spirits were gradually lifting... Then it was time for our little frozen treat. I've heard good reviews about this place, so I was excited to try it.

We ordered the Sundae Duo, since it comes with a choice of 4 flavors of gelato with topping, at a very cheap price. We got the Forest Berry, Cappuccino, Pear, and Dulce de Leche gelato, and topped it with whipped cream. They were delicious! Very creamy, not as heavy as ice cream. It was a nice, afternoon dessert. And as for Dad, he was in an extremely good mood, whistling the entire time after we got home. All I can do is just roll my eyes and shake my head :S

Then the next day, we went to the Normandie Cafe. It's been a long time since I've been here, so I've been wanting to go back and try their other pastries. We got there around 4:30PM--it looked like the workers were cleaning up, so maybe it was close to closing time. I looked at the arrays of pastries in the display case. I heard good things about their pear tart, so I got that. Then there were several other chocolate pastries that I haven't seen before (not that I come here often). When I asked about a few them, the clerk there gave a vivid description of each--he definitely knew what he was talking about. I got a Chocolate Decadence; he described it as a "molten chocolate cake base--it's very dense, with gooey chocolate in the center--topped with rich chocolate mousse". Interesting....usually molten chocolate cakes are served warm, I don't I've ever eaten one cold. So I got that one too. We ate them for dessert that night. The verdict?

...Hmmmm.... The pear tart was very almond-y. Too almond-y actually, all I could taste was almonds, and couldn't even taste the pear. But other than the pear itself, it was a good pastry. Nice, tender tart crust, and while tasteless, the pear provided a soft textural contrast. The Chocolate Decadence was really, really rich. The cake was indeed, very dense, with (cold)liquid chocolate still in the middle. The mousse was smooth, but a little too sweet. It was so rich the three of us couldn't finish it. Next, I gotta go back to Les Madeleine's and see how they measure up.

Hugh & Sophie's Birthday and Palm Sunday Dessert

Happy Birthday Hugh and Sophie! Since their birthdays are very close together, we decided to just have the party on the same day. Their mother was more than happy when I offered to bake them the birthday cake. At first, she just wanted to have both their names on the same cake...but I thought, "Why not make each of them their very own cake??". So I baked two small cakes, one white chocolate strawberry and the other chocolate strawberry. Then it was time for decorating....

I melted some chocolate and made hearts, stars, musical notes, and spirals. I sprinkled pearl dragees on some of them. I cut up the fruits and the strawberries to make it look like they're singing.

They turned out really cute!

The addition of birthday candles a must for that authentic "Birthday Cake" look. Hugh and Sophie both loved the cake. Some people even had seconds, including Sophie herself.

Then for today, Palm Sunday, we again had the Bible study at our house, so I made lemon meringue tart. I made a 9" one for the adults, and for the kids....

Lemon Meringue Tigers! I made French Meringue, but added some cornstarch for stability. Baked in 400F oven for about 5 minutes for these little guys, 7 minutes for the big one. Unfortunately, the crust turned out a little tough. :( I was fumbling with the crust the other day, trying to figure out which pan to use to bake them, causing the butter to melt a bit. But the overall flavor was very good. Sophie (who has a humongous sweet tooth) ate it all, but Hugh didn't seem to like it as much--he thought the filling was too sour and the crust too hard. He said he likes cakes, pies not so much, like milk chocolate but not dark chocolate. He's definitely a lot more finicky than Sophie.

A la Carte Kitchen Week 2

A la Carte Kitchen Week 2! Our menu this week:

Amuse: Savory Parmesan Cookie with Squid Ink Ash

Bread: Pretzels with Honey-Mustard and Horseradish Mousse

Soup: Vegetable Consomme with veggie powder

Salad: Zucchini Crudo with Marinated Mozzarella and Candied pecans

Pasta: Chive Blossom Pasta with lemon butter sauce

Entree: Beef Brisket in Corn Crepes with Shishito-BBQ sauce and coleslaw

Dessert: Parmesan-encrusted Olive Oil & Sour Cream Cake with Goat Cheese Gelato, Blood Orange Curd and Wine sauce

For the front of the house, we did an online search on unusual ingredients we used this week: opal basil, popcorn shoots, and mizuna. I wrote them on the chalkboard for our guests.

For Wednesday night, we had a party of 9 coming in, so we got the tables ready...

...then one of the kitchen staff had an accident with the blender. This guy was at the soup station and was making the beet puree for the soup. He had added very hot mashed beets in to the blender...and this is what happens. Do not seal the lid when pureeing hot liquids.

Amuse: Savory Parmesan 'cookies' served on river stones for that natural look. This dish was inspired by Noma, a two-star restaurant in Denmark that serves Nordic cuisines, all based on nature and seasonaliy.

Bread: Soft Pretzel with Honey Mustard and Horseradish Mousse. These tasted great, nice, soft texture...but I really think they should've been shaped differently. To be honest, it almost looks like someone just defecated on my bread plate...

Soup: Vegetable Consomme with dehydrated vegetables. Apparently, this was inspired by Cup O'Noodles. It was pretty good, but the dehydrated veggies remained chewy even after pouring in the soup--it works with Cup O' Noodles since we allow it to sit for a few minutes, but in a dining setting where the guests eat the soup right away, we had to think of something else. For Wednesday night, we pulverized them into veggies powder and the result was much better.

Salad: Zucchini Crudo with Marinated Mozzarella. "Crudo" means "raw fish" in Italian, or "raw" in Spanish. Crudo generally refers to thinly sliced fish, meat, or veggies served raw. Everyone raved about this salad--it was delicious, just the right amount of dressing, and the pickled radishes and candied pecans were a nice touch.

Pasta: Chive Blossom Pasta with Lemon-Butter Sauce. Chive blossoms taste just like chives, adds color and makes the dish look pretty. The sauce on this dish was a little bland--too buttery, and not much else, so we had to add capers, more lemon juice and salt. It was much better the next service shift.

Entree: Beef Brisket with Corn Crepes and Shishito BBQ sauce. We had the meat wrapped in the crepes burrito-style, but that made the plate look too bland. We julienned the crepes, put that and the coleslaw on the bottom. The result was much more sophisticated and composed. Other than the presentation, no changes were made to this, everything on the plate tasted delicious!

Dessert: Parmesan-encrusted Olive Oil & Sour Cream Cake with Goat Cheese Gelato, Blood Orange Curd, and Wine sauce. At first, the cake turned out really dry, and the Parmesan cheese was grated too coarsely, resulting in chunks of chewy stuff in the cake. For that day, we made a 'bread pudding' type of dessert using the cake--which turned out very creamy and delicious actually. But for the next service, we used a fine grater and sprinkled the cheese on top instead, and redid the cake. The cake was more moist and the Parmesan added a nice crunch instead of being chewy.

Mignardise: Chocolate Truffles. Courtesy of Chef Nicole and the other Chocolatier class. I took some home and Mom downed two of them in one sitting...they were so smooth, not cloyingly sweet (like See's or Mrs. Cummings...), with high quality chocolate. The flavorings in them were subtle, not overpowering (lavender and cinnamon-spice).

So that was Week 2. So far, I'm having a lot of fun in this class. I'm still a bit intimidated to go back to the kitchen though...

What a good, high quality camera can do

My sister-in-law's husband is a photographer. During the family reunion in San Diego, he was taking shots after shots of me filling the choux pastries with custard and whipped cream, and the desserts. I don't know anything about cameras, but the one he had looked like a very high quality one. He sent me the pictures of the cream puffs that he took with his camera.

Very pretty! The details are gorgeous, and the lighting makes the cream puffs look ethreal and delicious.

This is the pic I took with my camera....

I had to retouch the photo to adjust the lighting on it. While the pictures look similar, my camera can't do a real close-up shot like his camera can, so it's limited in that sense. Taking good pictures of food is an important ability--a delicious plate of food can look extremely unappetizing depending how the photo is taken. The opposite is true too, an unappetizing plate of food can look delicious with good photography.

A la Carte Kitchen Week 1

School started last week! This quarter's class is A la Carte Kitchen, a student-run restaurant at school. We divided into the front and the back of the house. The front consists of servers, busser, maitre d'hotel, dishwashers, etc., while the back of the house consists of the cooks. Wanting to take things slow, I chose to work in the front for the next few weeks.

There was a lot to learn. There's a chalkboard in the restaurant that needed to be changed weekly. Usually, we would write about an unusual dish or an ingredient that we'll be serving that week. For Week 1, we had gnocchi, a candy called "honeycomb", and shishito peppers. We had to polish all the drinking glasses, silverwares, and set the table.

There are also certain rules of serving at a fine dining:

1. Ladies first

2. Serve drinks and clear the plates from the right side

3. Serve food from the left side

4. Be sure to clear the plates before bringing in the next course

We also needed to explain to our guests what our food is, what the ingredients are, how they're prepared, etc. With our heads bursting with these rules and the minute details about our menu, we started off the Wednesday night quite nervously...

This is our Amuse: Lemongrass Granita. An amuse is like a palate "cleanser" or "prepper", meant to prepare the palate for the upcoming courses.

Bread course: Rosemary and Garlic Foccacia. Good flavor...but when I took some of the leftovers home and ate it the next day, the texture was too spongy and tough. I turned it into crumbs for breading.

Soup Course: Shishito Pepper soup with cream cheese foam and caramelized onions. It wasn't bad, but it was still a little bland. We served the soups tableside--we set the bowls with the foam and the onions in front of the guests and then pour the soup into the bowls at the table.

Salad Course: Roasted Beet Caesar. With roasted red and golden beets, Parmesan-Beet green chip for crunch. The beets were nice and tender.

Pasta Course: Gnocchi with Spring Vegetables. Potato gnocchi with trumpet mushrooms, roasted shishito peppers, red beets, and elite cream sauce. The gnocchi were fluffy and light, crispy on the outside, just the way they're supposed to be. The trick is to bake the potatoes very well, then mash them while they're still hot, add some flour and eggs, then mix. Don't add too much flour or overmix, since that'll make them heavy and gummy. They are usually boiled, then fried, but I believe these were deep-fried without boiling.

Entree Course: Sauteed Shrimp & Beans. With handmade chorizo sausage, white beans and fava beans cooked in rosemary broth, topped with arugula. Both the beans and the shrimp were delicious!

Dessert Course: Sorrel Panna Cotta. With rosemary-olive oil cake, bay leaf ice cream, avocado sauce, and crunchy honeycomb. I liked the bay leaf ice cream; the sorrel panna cotta was OK, definitely different; the rosemary cake tasted great, but the texture was pretty dry and crumbly.
That was Week 1. Stay tuned for Week 2!