Friday, December 4, 2009

so freakin long friday!

Life and Literature Exam at college >> go Kajang! to eat satay... that one is 40km from college! >> Go to Gabriel's house >> Go watch New Moon at Golden Screen Cinema Time Square >> McDonalds >> Indry's house!


with Nanda, Indry, Lenny, Nick, Tat Yang, Felly, Vinda, and Gabriel


ALL of that we do in one night only!
13.00 - 07.00


What A Day! XDD


NB : really sorry for this i didnt take a lot of photos. only took pic in car bcs all of this is just unplanned! but here we go...



narcissism on traffic light



tat yang as a navigator on the way to go eat satay! :)



and here is me and indry

Terrified and Electrified



I'll just cut to the chase.  Here is what I posted on Facebook last night:

"OMG.  I have gone and done it.  I am heading to Cambodia in January (sans Henry) on a humanitarian trip to help women and children over there.  We visited Cambodia a few years ago and fell in love with the country and its people.  Now it's time to go beyond and do what I can to improve their quality of life.

I am terrified and electrified."

My friend, Joyce, nailed it.  She said, "talk about testing yourself!"

No kidding.  I am terrified about traveling over there alone.  But, I can do this.  I won't have the security blanket of Henry by my side, but I can do this.  I have been a woman on a mission for the last few days, dealing with all of the details and making this a reality.  I am passionate about this.  I know it is what I am supposed to being doing.  It's just a little scary that it is halfway around the world.  But, I can do this.

My friend Tim left me a voicemail today saying "I know this is just a scam, you're not really going over there to help people.  You're really going to learn about the food and then you will come back and meld Southern cooking with Cambodian cooking."

Fried banana blossoms, anyone?

I think this comes under the heading of "be careful of what you want, you just might get it."

Well, I've got it.  Now I have to run with it.  Wish me luck.

But of course, think about the recipes I will post when I return!





aku yang hilang.


aku rase. macam ramai yg perasan. aku lain. dah 2 minggu.
aku lost. utk sekalian kalinya. nape hari ni baru aku nak mengaku?
entah. sbb aku tak tahan sgt kot. lgpun blog aku. biarlah.
tak de tmpt lain aku blh jd sejujur dgn blog. ini pun bertapis.
terlalu ramai mata membaca, terlalu banyak spekulasi dibuat.

"haha.. pompuan sume same.. mane lah pg nye pompuan yg laen skit nieh???!"

satu tamparan hebat bila aku diperkatakan sebegini.
terasa murah. terasa tipikal. terasa bodoh. tp aku rase. mmg aku bodoh.
tak perlu terasa, sbb itu kenyataan. aku bodoh.
tapi sungguh. bertapa diri ini belum dikenali. tak mengapalah.
tuhan, tlg jgn jauh dariku. aku sesat.

aku sedang sakit. food poisoning. ye ke? siapa yg tahu, tahulah.
tp kesannya, dah seminggu. don't worry, aku tak turun berat badan pun.
1g pun tak turun. tp pening yg sentiasa. tambah dgn kemurungan.
mestilah makin teruk. bukan?

tidak jgk. depan fmly dan kwn2,bila berjumpa depan2, aku masih ketawa riang.
mungkin buat masa ini aku suka bersendiri, walhal perlu dielakkan.
tapi apa nak jd dgn aku? dah hampir 2 minggu... yes.

aku kena bangun. tp mcm mana? di mana? utk apa aku bgn?
ok. utk diri sendiri. utk keluarga. ahhh... tahun ni dah disember.
bila aku sekilas terpandang kalendar, baru aku sedar, hampir tamat 2009.
tahun apakah ini utk aku? it is not so bad, or so good either.
jd blhlah aku katakan 2009 - roller coaster year.

minggu depan aku dah mula final exam sem 6.
tp dgn keadaan terus begini? apa aku harapkan? 2.00 je? hell no.
hati aku dah terlalu numb, heartless. tp ke arah yg negatif utk diri sendiri.
aku jd tak fikirkan masa depan. tak fikirkan benda tu buruk.
mane pergi kesedaran semua tu? entah. tlglah.
kalau aku terus begini, mmg aku akan gagal. mati ditelan bumi.

geli hati aku. mengingat apa yang terjadi 2009 ni.
yg baik. aku ingt aku rindu shahli.. aku tak lupa kejutan terbesar 2009 tu.
thanks again shahli, zaid, nora. aku ingt, ttm masak steak utk aku.
aku ingt, akid, ayak, nora bwk aku ke look up point. aku ingt lg, finaz.
bwkkan mcm2 hadiah utk aku dr russia. thanks babe. aku ingt.
bday aku pun seronok. cukuplah dgn apa aku dpt...

yg buruk. aku difitnah. diserang. di blog sendiri. bertubi - tubi.
tp, aku tahu, tu bukan kerja seorang saje. salah seorang gadis tu, sungguh.
kau mengata aku tapi kau lagi murah. bodoh! ingat tuhan juga.
aku kata salah seorang, aku tak kata siapa, jd jgn cepat melatah.
lagi sadis, kalian tak kenal pun aku sebenar - benarnya. jumpa tak pernah.
tp sebab seorang lelaki je kan mcm2 tuduhan aku kena?

yg buruk. aku terpaksa buat operation mata sbb infection. sakit.
aku sakit telinga berminggu - minggu. sakit. pointer sem 5 aku turun.
mendadak. abah finaz & sherry pergi meninggalkan dunia. al fatihah.
eyann yg baik juga meninggalkan aku. takziah. sedih.
tp biarlah... life goes on. aku ok. selagi aku masih hidup ni.
maksudnya aku masih mampu. bukan?

sudahlah. hampir 8am. doakan aku selamat ke UIA gombak.
ini 1st class aku di sana. aku drive sendiri walaupun aku tak larat.
ah. mungkin mental je lemah. tak ape.
new ppl! here i come...

Allah, plz blessed me. tq.


kris dayanti
wanita biasa.

aku ini Wanita Biasa
Bisa Sakit Luka Karena Cinta
Dingin Sepi Kerap Menyapa
Air Mata Jatuh Lukisan Raga
Kadang ku Kuat Setegar Karang
Kadang ku Rapuh Lemah Liar Merana
Maafkan Aku Bila Hasratku Keliru
Sulut Gairah Jiwamu
ku Yang Dosakan Cinta Kekasih
Kekasih Hatiku Maafkan Aku
aku Wanita Biasa
Dingin Sepi Kerap Menyapa
Air Mata Jatuh Lukisan Raga
Kadang ku Kuat Setegar Karang
Kadang ku Rapuh Lemah Liar Merana
Maafkan Aku Bila Hasratku Keliru
Sulut Gairah Jiwamu
ku Yang Dosakan Cinta Kekasih
Hatiku Maafkan Aku


Success and Failure


Success!


Last night was the last night of my 4-week Boot Camp class. My measurements were taken on 11/16 and last night, 12/3. In that time I have lost:


0.5 inches on my thighs and hips
2.75 inches on my shoulders/bust
1.5 inches on my waist
arms stayed the same


I am pumped! While I wish more came off my hips (this is where I carry my weight), I'm really happy with the results. Three days a week for a few weeks has really made a difference.


And more good news...our new treadmill is being delivered next TUESDAY!!!!!!


I made a popular bloggie dinner last night: spaghetti squash!
I halved the squash length-wise and baked it upside down in a pan with 1/4" water in the bottom at 375 F for 35 minutes. I then flipped the squash right side up and baked an additional 30 minutes at 375 F. After cooking, the squash easily pulls out in strands (like spaghetti!).




Easy breezy!




To my spaghetti squash I added Classico Tomato Basil Marinara, nutritional yeast, Parmesan, red pepper flakes, and pine nuts. Deeeelicious!!!!


Failure. Failures, really.

In the December issue of Cooking Light, I found a recipe for cranberries I really wanted to make for the RD Christmas Party THIS afternoon -- candied cranberries, more like.

Directions: simmer cranberries in simple syrup until tender. Roll in sugar. Serve.
Anyone can handle that, right? Wrong.



Lesson learned: can't be watching Bride Wars AND cranberries simoltaneously.


Of this many cranberries...



I salvaged THIS many...sad.



So, I moved on to an easy recipe my friend  Katie sent me just this morning (after a speed session of grocery shopping...
 

Chocolate Bombs


Ingredients:
1 box chocolate cake, prepared
1 can chocolate frosting
1 bag chocolate chips
2 packages chocolate almond bark


Make cake mix as directed and let cool. Crumble cake into a large bowl and mix in frosting and chips. Roll into balls and place on a lined cookie sheet. 


Melt almond bark and drizzle over balls. Cool and serve.


Disaster...

My balls didn't form, so mine are blobs. More like AFTER a bomb has exploded. Here's the final product:

I don't bake or do sweets of any kind very well...can you tell?
Taste? Thumbs up! Mmm! Chocolate lovers, come in!!


I need to doll up for the party, but have a WONDERFUL Friday and start to your weekend! And seriously, the above 2 recipes are easy as pie for the average Joe...and super delicious if you're looking for something easy!!

My week on the Lower East Side

December 4

It’s been a good week, not least because I got to chat with Brad Farmerie. Twice.

Brad is the warm and gracious chef of Public (and the adjacent Monday Room) and Double Crown. I first saw him at the first anniversary of Shang, Sino-Canadian chef Susur Lee’s restaurant at the Thompson LES hotel.

I hadn’t made it to Shang before, and the space wasn’t what I’d expected. It has a cavernous industrial looking lounge with lots of concrete. I think I’d imagined something sleeker and faux-Asian in dark lacquered wood like at Kittichai (faux because in all my years in Asia I’ve never seen anything designed that way — the closest to it being the Sukhothai hotel in Bangkok, which I think is beautiful).

The party had a good and eclectic turnout that included cookbook writers and journalists, bloggers and chefs, restaurateurs and radio personalities.

Okay, one radio personality that I know of — Leonard Lopate — whom I greeted while he and Drew Nieporent were catching up.

Among the chefs were Anita Lo and Seamus Mullen. Seamus greeted Brad with a warm but intense two-handed grab of the back of his neck. I’d never seen that before.

I’m guessing that Brad and Seamus bonded when they were contestants on The Next Iron Chef. I spoke with Brad about that a bit. He seemed to have just a hint of post-reality-TV ennui — wondering why he put himself through all of that, but maybe I’m imagining it. He did say that the winner, Jose Garces, was a great guy.

I ended up falling in with the New York Post’s Carla Spartos and her colleague Julie Frady. Julie mostly does layout, but she did think up the headline that the Post used when Dick Cheney shot that guy in the face while quail hunting: “The Buckshot’s Here.”

Oh, I do love Post headlines.

The celebration started late for a sit-down dinner — cocktails at 8, dinner at 9 — especially since they had many more guests than they had seats, so the dining was staggered.

I wasn’t really paying attention; I was talking to food writers Francine Cohen and Nancy Davidson when I was grabbed by one of the hosts and seated between Carla and Julie.

It was fun.

I had been wondering about the restaurant’s name. Shang, and the Chinese character in the restaurant’s logo, means “on” or “above” or ”high” or similar things. It’s the first character of the word Shanghai, which means ”on the sea.”

I asked Susur about that when he stopped by our table, and he said his intention had been for Shang to be a step up from his other restaurants. He said that, in fact, it turned out to be a step down from them.

I’m not exactly sure what he meant, but it seemed refreshingly honest.

Less than 24-hours later I was back on the Lower East Side at the relaunch party of Kampuchea, which has expanded and is now a dual concept place — one with slightly haute Cambodianish cuisine, and the other, in back, is called "The Norry at Kampuchea." A Norry is apparently a type of primitive Cambodian train made of bamboo, and that part of the restaurant is a cocktail-and-handheld-food venue.

Brad Farmerie was there, too, and so was his brother Adam, whom I’d never met before. Adam’s the co-founder of AvroKO, the design firm that owns Public (and the adjacent Monday Room) and Double Crown and designs other places. Their family resemblance is slight, most pronounced in their very straight noses.

What I ate at Shang (apart from assorted sushi during the cocktail hour):

assorted cold platter with aromatic duck, beef tongue, octopus and pig ear foie gras (I think I had that last item and I’m still not altogether sure what it is; I’m glad that I like mysteries)

crispy oysters with yuzu-smoked chile sauce and citrus

vegetable chop chop lettuce wrap with almonds

crispy Canton chicken with sweet & sour sauce and shrimp chips

caramelized black cod with Asian preserved vegetables, miso mustard and salmon roe

Mongolian braised leg of lamb and lamb chops with lotus crêpes, tomato jam and chutneys

pearl noodles with Hong Kong XO sauce

Chicken Apricot and Almond Tagine

    

    
I may have mentioned that my favorite spice is cumin and Moroccans do use cumin and coriander in many of their recipes. However, they are famed for their sweet tooth and so many of their chicken recipes will instead use cinnamon and pair it with apricots or raisins, along with saffron and garlic. Either way, it can all go into a tagine, the traditional conical cooking vessel of Morocco which recirculates the cooking steam into the dish as it stews. I own a tagine, although mine is a Le Creuset enameled cast iron. No particular reason for that, I might have even bought it on sale at an outlet store. Even if you don’t own a tagine, you can still make wonderful Moroccan tagines with a Dutch oven or any kind of heavy pot. I make tagines with some frequency because they are easy, fun and quick, often times finishing in the time it takes to cook rice. While I know that the traditional Moroccan pairing is couscous, many times I will make rice instead. That’s just me and the beauty of cooking, make what you like and will enjoy most. The recipe below is from one of my Moroccan cookbooks, Traditional Flavors from Northern Africa: The Moroccan Collection, although all are very similar: start by browning the meat, then soften the onions and vegetables, then add the spices and stock, return the meat and simmer. Ten minutes active time and 30 minutes to a meal. Take that Rachel Ray! Serves 2.
     
Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
2 chicken breasts
1/2 yellow oninon, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 large pinch of saffron threads, crushed
1/3 cup slivered almonds
2/3 cup dried apricots
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
salt/pepper

Directions:
Heat oil in a tagine, Dutch oven or heavy pot over medium heat.  Add the chicken and brown on both sides.  Turn down the heat to low and transfer the chicken to a plate.  Cut the breasts into bite size pieces.  Add the onion and garlic to the pot and cook until softened but not browned.  Stir in the cinnamon for 1 minute.  Add the saffron, almonds, apricots, stock and chicken.  Heat until the stock is just simmering then cover and simmer for 20 minutes.  Season to taste and serve with couscous or rice.
     

Lamb Steak and Kidney Pie with Savoy Cabbage and Onion

Although steak and kidney pie is a very popular dish in the UK, the most common steak and kidney included in the pie are of the beef variety. Traditional steak and kidney pie is one of my all time favourite dishes but in this instance I decided to experiment a little and see how the recipe turned out with leg of lamb steak and lamb kidney. I was delighted with the results.

The following recipe is designed for two people:

Ingredients

1/2lb leg of lamb steak (chopped)
3 lamb kidneys, cleaned and chopped (see instructions below)
1 pint fresh lamb or chicken stock
6oz puff pastry
1/4 large Savoy cabbage (de-cored and sliced)
1 small onion (thinly sliced)
1 clove of garlic (crushed)
1 tbsp sunflower oil
Salt and pepper

Method

The lamb steak and kidney should be rapidly browned in a large, dry pot and the heated stock added once this has been achieved. The stock should be brought back to the boil and then the heat turned down until a gentle simmer is achieved, for around half an hour. The meat can thereafter be used immediately to make the pie or allowed to cool.

The puff pastry should be rolled out to a sze where it is capable of covering a 10" by 5" ashet pie dish. The meat and stock should then be added to the dish, the edges lightly greased with a little butter and the pastry placed on top, firming it down around the greased rim. The top of the pie should be glazed with a little milk or egg wash and a "+" made in the centre to allow steam to escape during the cooking process.

The pie should be placed in the oven, pre-heated to 400F/200C/Gas Mark 6 for thirty minutes.

Approximately ten minutes before the pie is due to be ready, the sunflower oil should be added to a large pot and brought up to a medium heat. The cabbage, onion and garlic should then be added, stirred thoroughly and again at frequent intervals for ten minutes. Please note that no water or any other liquid is required.

This delicious meal is then ready to be served.

How to Clean and Prepare Kidneys

The easiest option is of course to have your butcher clean and prepare the kidneys for you, or to simply buy them pre-packed in this way from the supermarket. It is not difficult, however, to clean and prepare kidneys, provided one knows what to do.

The first step is simply to cut each kidney in half, down through the centre length-wise. It will then be possible to clearly see the white, fatty substance in the centre of the kidney which should carefully be cut out and discarded. The remaining meat can then be chopped to size as desired.

Relevant Associated Links for your Further Information

Healthy Lamb Recipes

New Zealand Lamb Recipes

Simple Healthy Recipes (Lamb)

Low Fat Lamb Recipes

Lamb Recipe's on Australia's Cuisine.com

Food Tip of the Day - December 2009: Great Christmas Gift Ideas for Foodies!

This Friday, December 4th, 2009, we find ourselves precisely three weeks away from Christmas. Are you in the position of having to consider great Christmas gift ideas for the foodie in your life? If so, over the course of the next couple of weeks, I will use this blog to provide not only some excellent Christmas gift ideas for foodies but where possible, Christmas gift ideas which do not break the bank. The year 2009 has been a hard year for many in a financial sense and Christmas gifts this year may necessarily be a little less elaborate than normal. Keep up to date therefore with what I will try to ensure are daily posts, providing you with a whole host of quality but budget Christmas gift ideas.

So what constitutes great Christmas gift ideas for foodies? The obvious answers are such as cookbooks, kitchen appliances which the particular foodie is in need of or has always desired, or even cooking utensils which the foodie can put to good use.

There is another alternative, however, which you may wish to consider. Why not purchase an Amazon Gift Card for your special foodie? This will allow them to take advantage of Amazon's magnificent array of food related merchandise after Christmas and ensure that they truly get something which they most desire. Amazon Gift Cards can also be redeemed against any product available on the Amazon site and this means that where the particular foodie desires something else this year, their choice is unlimited.

Click on the relevant panel below for details of the Gift Cards available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk and solve your Christmas gift dilemmas today!



Good night, another bad morning.

Hello everybody! Weekend's here, and I'm so exited because tomorrow morning, Laia and I will be very early at Las Ramblas for the Sonia Rykiel's release at H&M!! Yaw, girl, less than a day!

On the other hand, this week is gonna be funny, indeed. On saturday, dinner and Razz. On Sunday, Virus (a gothic party). On monday, relax... (yea, I'll need it) and on tuesday... Editors! Yes, finally, we're going to see them! And after that... my birthday! God, I can't believe it... just another year? *gasp*

Anyway, I would like to thank you all your lovely comments in this blog, but specially in my last entry about Kate Moss. I'm glad about sharing my opinion with yours; please, keep on expressing and sharing them with me (about Kate or anything), I love reading them.

Coat and skirt - Green Coast
Sweater - Pimkie
Tights - Calzedonia
Bag - Vintage
Shoes - Sonia Rykiel <3
Hat - Claire's
Clock necklace - handmade

Yesterday I had lunch with Esther, Maka and Eva; and after that, we went to Tamar's shop and had a nice coffee with her. I love those kind of days with friends, it's quite funny (and we're always joking about everything; yesterday, for example, it was about a doll called "Goldie"). But the point about yesterday is that Maka gave me two things:

A lovely Christmas card (thank you, dear! I love you :D)

And my dreaming skirt from Baby, the Stars Shine Bright!!

I bought it about two weeks ago and now it's at home, yaw! I've been dreaming with this skirt for so long, you know? It's a Halloween theme, but looks so lovely...



I bought this lovely eyeshadows' palette, and the lollipop is a present from my friend Vane, thanks to you too! And looking so pink... it reminds me... I own you a game, Sher!!

A few days ago, lovely Sher tagged me in a very funny way. She choose a color, and I must look after things in that color at my bedroom. The color she choose was pink ... so here are some pink things around my bedroom!

 
My pink H&M boots, a little notepad with a lovely Miss Bunny, my mouse and my sleeping mask!

I don't have much pink in my decoration, but I've got some cute things in my wardrobe!

Now, I must choose a color and tagg some people... so I choose BLACK and I tagg:

Maka
Nasty
and
Maria

It's your time, girls!


As today I'm feeling again like...


I want to talk you about one of my fashion muses... that belongs to the music world. Yes, I know I've talk about her before (and no, it's not Florence...). She's Alison Mosshart.

Isn't she beautiful?

I love Alison from the first moment I heard her voice. I had not seenher before, but the sound of ther voice through the speakers of my radio was great, and I was captivated from the start. Then I could see her in photos and video clips, and all of this just seemed to me an adjective to it: perfect.

Not only do I find her as a beautiful woman with a particular style of dress; but also I think she's very charismatic and gives a special touch of glamor to anything she touches.

Her voice is soft, yet has a hidden strength that only lets out a glimpse when the feline beast within her. She forms a perfect match with Jamie Hince, her companion of adventures in the wonderful project that is The Kills; has inspired Brian Molko of Placebo and she's currently engaged in a paralel project from The Kills along with Jack White, The Dead Weather.



I think the world of fashion, certainly, drinks flowing all around, creating a kind of reciprocal circle that inspires some and within which draws inspiration from others. Of course, any art theme is touched by fashion and music is no exception. Madonna, Lady Gaga, The Strokes, David Bowie ... We can think of a thousand examples of influential people in the world of fashion, and that both are inspired by it. But honestly, I think that there are two groups: one, with those stars who are led by the world of fashion and what designers say, coolhunters and stylists; and another for those that are the objective of coolhunters, inspiration for designers and the creative dream of every good stylist. Of course, not just in the world of celebrities, also in day to day and from the people around us, but perhaps it is in the glamorous world where this is most evident.

For me, Alison is within the second category. Her personal style, character, her aura of mystery, makes her a juicy prey for coolhunters (and therefore, for me) because she's not led by the canons in extreme fashion, making her a unique person...



So, dear Alison ...Never change!

And to you all, thanks for reading!
(and remember, I'm not here to please you)


Hoy os voy a hablar de una de mis musas (y no, no es Florence): Alison Mosshart.



Alison me enamoró desde el primer momento en el que escuché su voz. No la había visto antes, pero me daba igual... el sonido que emitía su voz a través de los altavoces de mi radio era maravilloso, y me cautivó desde el inicio. Luego pude verla en fotos y videoclips, y tan sólo se me antojó un adjetivo para ella: perfecta.
No sólo me resulta una mujer hermosa y con un particular estilo a la hora de vestir; sino que además creo que es muy carismática y le imprime un especial toque de glamour a cualquier cosa que toca.

Su voz es suave, pero a la vez posee una fuerza escondida que sólo deja entrever cuando deja escapar a la fiera felina que lleva dentro. Forma un equipo perfecto con Jaime Hince, su compañero de aventuras en ese maravilloso proyecto que es The Kills; ha inspirado a Brian Molko de Placebo actualmente está embarcada en un proyecto paralalelo a The Kills junto a Jack White; The Dead Weather.



Creo que el mundo de la moda, indudablemente, bebe de todo lo que fluye a su alrededor, creando una especie de círculo recíproco que inspira a unos y dentro del cual, recibe inspiración de otros. Por supuesto, cualquier temática artística se ve tocada por la moda, y la música no es una excepción. Madonna, Lady Gaga, The Strokes, David Bowie... podemos pensar en mil ejemplos de personas influyentes en el mundo de la moda, y que a la vez son inspirados por la misma. Pero sinceramente, yo considero que hay dos grupos: Uno, el de aquellas estrellas que se dejan llevar por el mundo de la moda y lo que dicen los diseñadores, coolhunters y estilistas; y otro, el de aquellas con personalidad propia que son objetivo de los coolhunters, inspiración para los diseñadores y el sueño creativo de todo buen estilista. Por supuesto, no sólo pasa en el mundo de los famosos; también en el día a día y entre las personas que nos rodean; pero tal vez es en el mundo del glamour donde ésto se hace más evidente.

Para mí, Alison está dentro de la segunda categoría. Su estilo personal, su carácter, su aura de misterio la convierten en una presa jugosa para los coolhunters (y por ende, para mí), ya que ella no se deja llevar en extremo por los cánones de la moda, convirtiéndola en un ser único...



Por eso, querida Alison... ¡nunca cambies!

Y a vosotros, gracias por leer!!

(All Alison's pictures are from weheartit)

Molecular Gastronomy - New Site and Freebies

At some point in the not too distant future I will be helping the good folks at Cream Supplies, purveyors of the finest molecular gastronomy goodies, to launch a new interactive cooking site.

The focus will be on making molecular gastronomy accessible to us mere mortals.

We will be de-mystifying the processes, equipment, ingredients and techniques used by many of the world’s finest chefs and showing you how to achieve those same results at home.



But before we can get down to the serious business of playing with our food, we need to know what you want to know.

What would you like to learn?


Perhaps you want to know how to make lighter than air foams? Or those neat little caviar pearls for cocktails? Maybe you want to make spaghetti from strawberries, vegetarian panna cotta or little spheres that burst in the mouth.

Whatever your question, we’ve got the answers. Please either email me or leave your question as a comment below.

To sweeten the deal we have five awesome kits to give away to the best questions:



What’s more, one lucky so-and-so will be sent one of these to get you started on the road to molecular greatness:



You’ll be making airs, foams, spheres and edible pearls before you can say ‘Ferran Adria’.

Recipe

To give you a little flavour of the sort of thing we’ll be getting up to, here is a lavender rice pudding with black olive caramel and a black olive foam.

Infuse 200ml of milk with a few lavender leaves and sweeten by dissolving in two tablespoons of sugar. Toast some risotto rice over a high heat and add a nob of butter and 25ml of sweet vermouth. Pour over the warmed milk, cook for 20 minutes, or until the rice is tender, stirring occasionally.

Rinse and finely chop 50g black olives. Add half the olives to 200ml milk and blend using a stick blender. Heat gently and stir in 1g soya lecithin. Blend again and allow to cool. Pass through a fine meshed sieve and leave until ready to serve.

Heat two tablespoons of caster sugar until it starts to brown. Add the remaining black olives and allow to cook for thirty seconds. Pour onto a silicon or heatproof mat and leave to cool. Break into small pieces.



Use a stick blender to agitate the olive, milk and lecithin mixture until it begins to create a foam.

Spoon the rice pudding into a warm bowl and garnish with a few lavender flowers, the black olive caramel. Spoon the olive foam over the top and serve immediately.

Notes
Lecithin is an emulsifier found in eggs and soya beans that allows you to create foams and airs from a huge range of ingredients.