It's the end of summer, and fruits are in season and to be found cheaply in supermarkets.

My first attempt at striped icebox cookies! I like the concept of having cookies ready for baking, straight from the freezer. And when I saw Dalfour's strawberry jam on sale, I just knew what I had to do! Make strawberry jam stripe cookies, of course.

I made these during the first few weeks of summer this year, but didn't find time to post them up. Half-moon cookies, based on a Martha Stewart recipe. They're meant to have a cake-like base with a yin-yang theme of chocolate and vanilla icing. Not only visually pleasing, they're nice to snack on too. 

For the full recipe and pics-in-progress, please read after the cut!

After neglecting this blog for far too long, it's back to business! Starting off, this post of thank-you tiramisu cups, with custom stencilled names :)

I had some leftover cornmeal (from my attempt at corn pudding, some Mauritian traditional dessert) and I had a craving for the kind of Kenny Roger corn muffins I used to eat. I didn't have any corn on me, but I decided to bake cornbread. It turned out rather dry so I made a moist honey pecan syrup to drizzle all over the bread.

It's getting to be subzero temperatures and what I crave is a hot pie. Since I've gone back to my supermarket shopping lifestyle, I've discovered a whole range of "vegetarian" substitutes, like this vegetarian brown sauce. The first thing to try with it: Shepherd's Pie! Delicious.

One of the houses on the way to the farmer's market. This is the official end of the CSA season, and I miss their vegetables already. I'm not quite sure I can distinguish non-organic from organic produce, but I found the CSA veggies to be extremely flavorful and fresh.

This recipe is from a friend

It makes a chocolatey puff of air

It's what dreams are made of

Behold- the encyclopedia which I borrowed and have not read. Another unaccomplished fall break assignment... well, to some extent. Seeing as I have been unable these past few days to wake up at an early enough hour to start my dough, I tried a recipe from this book. It turned out pretty good! I guess because focaccia is basically all about the quality of olive oil used...

I learnt this from a cooking class organized at my school. It's typical Mauritian cooking, and the recipe is really simple. I don't think its too unfair to post it online, because there are similar ones available and it's no family secret or anything. Try making it, it takes about 20 minutes on the stove and 5h in the fridge before you tuck in.

 Tastes somewhat like the real thing, but isn't. So no recipe is provided until I tweak out the problems. Trouble is, I don't understand the recipe, it's in Japanese. So I went online to the first google search result and the recipe was a poor one (I'm not going to slander it, though).

Finally, back from hiatus! Here's a slice of milky, airy cheesecake- the way I grew up eating it. I just can't understand the love for American-style cheezy cake. 

 What I packed for lunch this week: using leftover quiche and more yummy veggies from the farm.

I bought a beautiful lame from a quaint little cookery shop in Toronto, and obviously the first thing I had to try was basic pain a l'ancienne with it. Unfortunately, my inexperience with hearth breads shows.

This is a basic quiche recipe, following the recipe for basic pie dough and quiche. What's in it? A tablespoon of marmite, 3 eggs, local veggies including tomato and kale, plus onions from the supermarket.

Fresh, local vegetables that are organic and in season. In short, precisely the base ingredients you need to develop skill in melding tastes and natural flavors together. I haven't posted in a while, for good reason. So this is a mega summary of how I feel my relationship to food has changed.

To start off this post, I must begin by saying that I read Pollan's books. Then, after researching on sustainable agriculture and discovering so much about the food industry that supplies what we purchase from supermarkets and convenience shops, I felt motivated to do my part to support local agriculture. I've signed up for a local CSA in the region, and I've been living mostly on what they provide me weekly (along with my stores of grains, flours and additional, judicious purchases of soy products and seasonings).

An astute reader would notice immediately that there is no meat in my weekly groceries. Yes, I am trying to reduce my consumption of meat. It's been approximately a month since I started this drive towards a meatless diet. Personally, I couldn't be happier, because of the delicious veggies I've been getting, but I get mixed reactions from people.


Anyway, I am very happy with my subscription and I'm not looking forward to the end of October, which is when it gets too cold for veggies to grow here :( I feel like the last few weeks have been a huge learning curve for me, and I have begun to question a lot of the assumptions I've had about the food I buy and eat.

In my subsequent posts, I'll be striking more of a balance between baking and cooking, especially dishes that are primarily vegetarian (or even maybe vegan). Meanwhile, enjoy the pictures of fresh veg!

Postscript: Sadly, the gorgeous tomatoes that were so ripe and sweet would be the only two this year from my CSA, due to the heinous late blight that attacked their crop.

An attempt at pizza, this time with NYC-style thick crust. Perhaps a little TOO thick.

Recipe taken from Reinhart's American Pie, where he obsessively lists all the pizza doughs you could ever conceivably make and gives the best way to flip, top and bake them. While my baking stone makes the dough blister spectacularly, I have to work on getting the timings right- evidently I put them in too long. Healthy choice toppings (apart from 1/2 cup of oh-so-fatty-but-gorgeous mozarella cheese) such as spinach, mushrooms and tomatoes with a base of tomato paste (w/o any salt) make this pizza savory with a tinge of natural sweetness and barely any oiliness at all.

I love handling different types of doughs and pizza dough, with its silky elasticity, is certainly no exception. I just wish I could do the toss-and-spin with the kind of finesse you see at real pizzerias. Until then, I'll be satisfied eating these strange, misshapen pizzas.

Chunky red bean paste with sponge layers!

I am frustrated that even after doing this several times (check history), I still can't get the roll cake to be picture perfect! I swear, one day I will bake a whole day's worth of roll cakes until I get the right balance of fluffiness, thickness and flexibility. The red bean paste doesn't look very flattering, but it tastes nice :)

A spongy roll with custard spread and soft strawberries dipped in sugar syrup as filling, covered with chocolate ganache and a mild whipped cream flavoured with vanilla.

The strawberries were very soft, from the frozen batch leftover from the day we went strawberry picking (sooo... many... strawberries...). When defrosted (by leaving it at RTP) you get bags of pulpy, watery strawberries which are frankly disgusting to touch, but they still taste nice. Apart from that, if you eat these defrosting strawberries while they are still in this half icy-half pulpy stage, they feel like mini portions of strawberry sorbet. Mmm.

What to say, I still need to work on this 'piping' thing. I also think the whipped cream was whipped slightly past the ideal firmness. I am also proud of my arm power! Whipped the cream my hand until it became this thick. It is almost as satisfying as kneading a huge lump of dough.

The candle fell off the cake and smudged off the icing! Notice the logcake-like texture of the chocolate ganache, courtesy of my pretty silicon brush.



We had just enough for a slice a person... a really mini cake. Interestingly, you only need to bake the sponge cake layer for 10minutes! And this is another recipe from that cookbook of mine using meringues, how terrible. What is her obsession with them??

It's a sandwich of really white bread with really fatty pork. Another excuse to make quickbread :)

AKA Another use for the bun recipe. Kou rou recipe adapted from here. Because I don't believe in spending too much for a one-time dish, I replaced all the spices and herbs listed with 五香粉. I might have added too much though, it really smelt like the meat in 肉骨茶. I simmered the meat for at least 3 hours. Another note, belly pork is only available at oriental supermarkets, which means my usual grocery go-tos can only supply fatty meats that approximate the tenderness of kou rou. The recipe for the bao is exactly the same, only that we make the shape different.

Requires: Dough from recipe, some kou rou and lettuce.

1. make into a smooth ball. 2. flatten into oval shape, one half thinner than the other half. 3. spread some oil on the thin half. 4. fold fat half over thin half. place on wax square and steam 20 minutes.