Monday, February 23, 2009

My First Bento ^^

Pertama kali buat bento, kalo di Indo seh istilah-nya bekal makan buat di bawa ke kantor atau sekolah buat anak-anak kita tercinta... hehehe..
Senangnya bisa buat dan ada waktu, jadi pagi-pagi udah bangun untuk menyiapkan bento ini.
Masaknya yang gampang-gampang saja, biar keburu (bangunnya aja diam2 ; ashton masih bobo), kalo gak hmmmm... you know lahhh....
Dari kemaren gue udah beli nori nya cari di hero Taman Anggrek, gue beli yang rasa original aja.
Mudah-mudahan bisa diterapkan tiap pagi yak, cia yooo...

Molten

This picture was supposed to be better. There was another, blurrier picture I took before this one, so I only posted the one. Honestly, I should have taken more pictures but I was in such a hurry to eat this Hot Chocolate Fudge Cake, this molten, gooey, chocolaty melted goodness that I hurriedly snapped some shots and ditched the camera in favor of a spoon.

Luckily the recipe in Cooking Light has a beautiful picture - but then, they don't use real food in those pictures do they?

This was my third attempt at baking the cake. It took me three attempts to even get a picture worthy cake because the cooking time on the recipe was far too long for molten, and my first two attempts resulted in very good but fully cooked cake. Such a disappointment when I wanted a messy melting spoonful in my mouth, not a dry cakey one. I've wanted some good molten chocolate cake ever since a long ago meal at M&S Grill in Minneapolis where I had one for dessert. So for my final attempt, I reduced the baking time drastically, from 21 minutes to 11 minutes.

This recipe actually has espresso in it, which means for the last three nights I've been restless and sleeping fitfully and am writing a long blog entry at 11:45pm. While I don't like coffee flavors much, espresso mixed with chocolate is wonderful. I'll write about chocolate espresso cookies one of these days. However, for the caffeine sensitive I would tone it down a bit in this recipe or get rid of it completely. When I lived with Kristen the dessert girl, she started popping chocolate covered espresso beans that someone gave her, and then had trouble sleeping for days until she made the connection. Espresso is strong stuff.

The original recipe was for ten servings. Now depending on how well you know me, you know that a)I don't have nine other people living with me, b) I can barely gather nine friends in the same zip code, and c) I am somewhat smaller than I have been in the past and intend to stay that way.

So making ten cakes was not option. I only have four ramekins anyway because my mom did not expect me to gather more than three friends in the same zip code when she bought them for me. So I divided the recipe by three and made three perfect servings (perfect = slightly large than Cooking Light deems appropriate).

Here it is then, the proportions for three servings. You can find the remaining instructions via the recipe link.
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
  • 1 2/3 teaspoons instant espresso powder
  • 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • Dash of salt
  • 1 1/3 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup egg substitute
  • 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 ounce bar dark (71% cocoa) chocolate (such as Valrhona Le Noir Amer), finely chopped
  • 2/3 tablespoons powdered sugar

It’s not really for my dog

February 23

I had an interesting chat this afternoon with Brasserie manager David Pogrebin, who is going through a lot more doggie bags than he used to.
And a wider variety of people are using them, and taking home less desirable items than they used to.
Brasserie has a big rib-eye, so it has never been uncommon for people who didn’t arrive in chauffeur-driven cars to take half of it home with them. But now, people of all walks of life are taking food home, David says, and not just eight ounces of steak. They're taking home a couple of extra bites. If all that's left is the French fries, they take the fries home (like anyone really wants day-old fries).
Regulars who didn't used to ask for doggie bags are asking for them now.
The super-rich are doing it, too, and explaining themselves when they do it, David says.
“I’m taking this home for my wife,” for example, like David cares why they're taking it home.
We talked about that for a bit, and I think maybe the customers are bragging — showing their thriftiness now that that's considered a positive quality and a sign of good character rather than an indication of miserliness and ill-humor, which is what many people thought it was eight months ago.
I’m asking around to see if this is a significant trend, and I’ll start by asking you, dear blog reader, if you use doggie bags more often?
(There's a poll on the right side of this blog. Click on the 'yes' or 'no' button if you feel so-inclined).

Calling all lardo!

February 23

I'm collecting interesting ideas for things to do with lardo, as my boss is writing about it. If you'd like to share your thoughts, please do so by commenting below. She's particularly interested in learning what professional chefs are doing with it, but anyone should feel free to comment.
Thank you.

fix it

7:45pm. sy berlari lagi. berlari dan terus berlari.
ia salah satu cara sy menenangkan fikiran kini.
agak laju. kemudian. sy berhenti. 1 jam telah berlalu.
sy berhenti. sejukkan semula badan. dan. berfikir sejenak.

damaged . injured . broken . unintended . sorry

VS

stronger . better . positive . patience . let go

dan. sy benar2 okay. jgn risau. sy bkn budak kecik! XP
cuma. bnyk benda yg berlaku. tp.
sy rasa lebih yakin dlm hidup.
mungkin. ya sy dpt rasa. sy lebih, tabah. positif.
kali ini. agak lain dgn sebelumnya. dan sy harap.
sy kekal begini. insya allah.

sy AWAY utk seketika dr fs / fb / ms.
more than a month but less than 3 months.
ada bagusnya sy buat mcm tu. serius.
apa-apa, contact sy d blog @ hp.
jgn risau. sy berpk dgn waras. sy juga. ok.

i'm gonna fix myself. my heart.
let go, of what i can't have.
and. put all da blame on me.
in a very positive way.
and i did well so far.

last but not least,
life goes on no matter what.
be happy. u. urself. make ur life;
better. happier. and think wiser.

take care ppl!

^ __ ^



Cheese on Toast

Last Friday’s ‘Nibble’ contained a brief but apparently un-ignorable reference to cheese on toast.

As such, for the past 48 hours there has been a craving working away at my psyche and only this morning did I realise what it was.

Cheese on toast is another dish of implicit simplicity that manages to delight, satisfy and comfort in equal measure. The crunch of toasted white bread is the perfect foil to the soft, gooey warmth of melted cheddar cheese.

This is fast food as I see it – food that needs little thought or effort but can make you blissfully happy within a matter of minutes. It is the culinary equivalent of a big bear hug from a close friend.


(click photo to enjoy life size)

Do you really need a recipe for this? Surely not. Toast bread. Spread thinly with butter. Add an obscenely thick layer of cheddar cheese. Sprinkle with black pepper and a few dashes of Worcestershire Sauce. Grill until the cheese is bubbling and just starting to blister into delicious brown patches.

Eat. Smile. Repeat until full.

Goes very well with a mug of tea and many episodes of Family Guy.

Part two of the pork scratching recipe is due in the next couple of days, so stay tuned.

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