Food During The Holidays

I'm sorry I haven't posted anything sooner to the New Year but I've needed to get everything in order before starting 2013 and this year I'll try to juggle everything a lot better okay guys? Thank you for bearing with me!

To start off, just a quick picture post of some things I ate and made during my recent holiday to the coast.

Simple Yule Log

This is part two of my yule log post. Here's how to make the plain log cakes on either side of the mocha one. I made this using a mash up of two taste of home recipes: 1, 2. Post for mocha log is here.

Mocha Yule Log

It's almost Christmas! This means it's almost time for friends and/or family, food and lots of presents! So maybe take a break from putting up the tree (if you haven't already) or hanging up tinsel, baubles, or pretty lights, and make something for the Christmas party! I made a few yule logs (or bouche de noel's); the mocha one is that huge one in the middle (recipe from taste of home). My blog post on the other logs is here.

Lovin' Haloumi

Robert Louis Stevenson III once said "Many's the long night I've dreamed of cheese - toasted, mostly"; he's not the only one who has dreams about cheese! I adore cheese, I'm not sure I could live without it. I'm starting to learn more about cheese these days from reading books and watching Cheese Slices.

Ginger Crab

I made this for dinner the other day:

Homemade Pavolva

For the family Father's Day party. Meringue, custard, strawberries, passion fruit, kiwi.

(Recipe) Brownie In A Bowl

This is something you can add to a college survival list including: making grilled cheese with an iron, making soup in a rice cooker, poached eggs in a microwave...

When I need to study, I need energy (ahem sugar) but I just can't waste time baking a whole pan of brownies. Then I suddenly remember a recipe for brownies in a mug that I saw on pinterest and voila; brownie in a bowl.

This all takes 5 minutes tops. If the consistency is too thick add a little water. I'd advise you not to add extra olive oil or it may just end up tasting a bit like oil and it'll smell like it. 1min 40s wasn't enough for me so I added an extra 30s; it all depends on the power of your microwave. Serve it with a dollop of ice cream.

Crispy Pork Belly (Pic)

Crispy crackling pork belly. Not too fatty.

Poutine

Just a quick one.

If you know me, you'll know that I love pretty much all things Canadian; from hockey to maple syrup to Top Chef Canada and... poutine.

Poutine is pretty much fries, gravy and cheese curds. Not always fancy-schmancy. I miss poutine so I used the basics of Heston's Triple Cooked Chips recipe (except I fried them four times...), just some beef gravy and cheese curds (recipe). Yum.

(Recipe) Making Cheese Curds At Home

I decided to try to make some cheese curds by myself at home. So after 'careful research' I use this recipe, which I'll put here (with the measurements I used).

You'll need:
1L 2% milk
⅛ cup of vinegar
1tsp salt

Inspired Dinner Part 5 (Citrus Chocolate Explosion)

DESSERT. This was pretty much ALL inspired by Grant Achatz who is possibly one of my most favorite chefs in the whole wide world.

He made a dessert that was a literal explosion and so I made the amateurs version; an explosion of citrus. And yes, even with my scrappy video editing skills I managed to put epic music over it. (WOAH LIKE 240P)

Inspired Dinner Part 4 (Citrus & Root Beer)

A pre-dessert should be smaller I know but this is what I like.

On the bottom is an orange jelly, then a lemon jelly with a hole cut out and in the hole is some root beer granita. Then some root beer 'sprinkled' (for lack of a better word) around the plate and some grated orange zest.

Inspired Dinner Part 3 (Steak & Fries)

The main done to my style. I remember as a kid, getting a (relatively) huge plate with a hunk of meat, mushroom gravy, fries and mash so I decided to change it up a bit for this.

Instead of a typical steak, I pick up some eye fillet at the butchers and I cook it the way I love it: caramelized, dark surface and medium inside. Whack the fillet into a hot pan with some herb butter and keep an eye on it.

Inspired Dinner Part 2 (Prawns & Wonton Wrappers)

So my starter. Darn the hot oil! Browned my prawns too much in pretty much 1 second... Darn.

This wasn't inspired by anything really, it just came from my love of fried foods and mayo and mustard.

Being too lazy to get kataifi, I grab some wonton wrappers out of the fridge to fry. And there's dollops of mustard, a line of ras-el-hanout and some lemon mayo on the side. Once again, DARN THAT HOT OIL.

Inspired Dinner Part 1 (Cheese Toastie)

So I thought up a dinner with most parts inspired by something I saw in a cookbook, or a chef. I don't like to go into the technicalities of things like how big should a pre-dessert be or how big should an amuse be cause at the end of the day, this is just a meal I made at home for family to release some 'creativity'!

I'm splitting this up into parts so I can have a little spiel about how it came about etc. but if that's boring y'all can just look at the picture.

So the 'amuse' is pretty much a toastie.

This is inspired by Heston Blumenthal's 80s Feast. When I think of breakfast I think of a cheese toastie with some mushrooms and tomatoes. It's a little emmental sandwiched between buttered toast. I wrapped it like a little present in filo pastry for extra crunch.

Mussels

Just a short one...

Mussels. More versatile than oysters, not to mention cheaper haha. So in the words of an old poetess, O how do I love thee, let me count the ways...

Tomatoes, egg, white wine, red lumpfish roe

Spherification

What is that? Fish roe? Orange blobs?

(Recipe) Nanaimo Bars

Hi there Nanaimo Bar! You may come from British Columbia, CA but I love you anyway... Diabetes, COME AT ME.
This is an awesome recipe, no baking needed! Just a fridge and a stove. The process is split into 3 parts and will make about 25 neat bars.

(Pic) Prawn & Kataifi

Dinner: prawns wrapped with kataifi (shredded phyllo pastry) and deep-fried. Oh so crispy.

Macarons: Still Can't Get It Right

Probably the 10th time I've made them, and I'm still no closer to making them look like Pierre Hermé's... Darn you almond meal! I will persist until you're as pretty as can be!