tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-291149112011-09-28T19:26:52.507+13:00rémi and fangie's food and travel tidbitsRémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.comBlogger1681100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-28560166965752662882010-08-09T14:15:00.001+12:002010-08-09T22:27:53.818+12:00

It's been 2 months since my last post. Yes I've been lazy. Lazy to experiment in the kitchen, lazy to dress up my food, lazy to take photos, and even lazier to update the blog. Not sure when my next post will be, but here's a French duck stew recipe that I thought I'll share, since it's so yummy and easy to make. Les Classiques de Camille is still my favourite French cookbook because it's

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-25259854161363727222010-05-25T12:33:00.000+12:002010-05-25T12:33:19.221+12:00

Finally, more success in making tarte tatin. Our pilgrimage back home to learn the art of French home cooking has not been in vain!!! A few thoughts why I love home cooked food so much: 1. They do not always look dressed up like in restaurants, but they certainly look and smell yummy. 2. The pleasure starts even before the meal is served at the table -- especially the anticipation as the

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-2637502580444148312010-05-18T18:55:00.001+12:002010-05-18T19:44:06.795+12:00

We have just concluded a month-long holiday of being fed good food everyday. The trip started off with 3 days in Paris. Despite being in the fashion capital of the world, and suffering from severe withdrawal symptoms for the lack of retail therapy in Wellington (even suburban malls in Singapore offer more variety), I did not have the time and chance to step into a single boutique. My only

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-71402980604812461942010-03-24T11:13:00.001+13:002010-03-25T12:59:24.103+13:00

We saw a little hedgehog outside our house about two weeks ago. Looked like a baby and it was so cute Rémi couldn't resist putting it in his hands and touching it. Of course, that made the little creature even more scared and curled up. It's the first time I've come up close and seen a hedgehog alive in Wellington. There's plenty of them here but they are nocturnal. So I've only seen dead ones

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-22943735370252832612010-03-01T10:24:00.001+13:002010-03-01T10:25:57.566+13:00

No picture to go along with this recipe as we were too hungry to bother with dressing it up and taking photos. This recipe drew inspiration from a particular issue of Cuisine magazine that I was browsing during our cafe lunch the same afternoon. There were certainly many other salivating recipes featured, but this one caught my attention because of the simplicity of ingredients and instruction,

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-44516702573656213872010-02-24T14:45:00.000+13:002010-02-24T14:45:30.277+13:00

 What's Chinese New Year without the yummy homemade golden pineapple tarts. That's exactly what I'm missing this year. I'm not the pickiest when it comes to pineapple tarts, but they are best when homemade. Many expert homecooks have their own secret recipes and I don't think we can easily say who makes the best pineapple tarts. Everyone have their favourites, and I have many. Like the fresh from

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-88146735154495839562010-02-01T21:59:00.000+13:002010-02-01T21:59:24.416+13:00

One of the memorable scenes I still remember from the movie Julie and Julia was when Julie plucked up her courage to attempt her last recipe challenge from Julia Child's cookbook: to kill a live lobster and cook it. I'm afraid I don't have the determination of Julie. First, I am not as diligent as her in keeping my food blog up-to-date (Yes, I'm feeling guilty about my long hiatus in trying new

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-7679518933789940022009-12-18T22:37:00.001+13:002009-12-18T22:38:25.951+13:00

It's our second attempt and we're not getting better at it yet. But still a good try nonetheless. Kouign Amann is a Brittany buttery caramelised cake. Think croissant laced with lots of sugar. The hardest part of the cooking process is actually to look at the cake swimming in the pan of melted butter in the oven. We stared hard at it and asked ourselves if eating it is the right thing to do.

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-63122184185575360662009-12-18T22:25:00.000+13:002009-12-18T22:25:41.339+13:00

Another berrily good dessert made by Rémi. He found the recipe from the internet, and we found a new secret to a fabulous crumble: by replacing half the flour used in crumble with ground almond. It gives the crumble a new nutty, almony flavour and texture that is even harder to resist. I don't have the exact recipe he used but try the ground almond. And unlike the apple crumble, it is best to

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-59504448476133348972009-12-18T22:16:00.002+13:002009-12-18T22:17:05.860+13:00

I love having fresh herbs. Unfortunately with apartment living, it is hard to keep my pots of herbs alive for long. They either don't survive the onslaught of wind outside, or the greedy bugs, or their roots outgrow the pot too fast. Especially my favourite basil. We still like to have fresh basil in our salads every now and then, whenever we feel like it. And we do not like to buy the cut

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-42540285663970764242009-12-18T21:30:00.000+13:002009-12-18T21:30:55.401+13:00

I love summer in Wellington. The weather still sucks, but at least there's more sunny days and it is marginally less cold. The best part of summer is the berry season. Because of the crappy weather, we have been missing out on buying lots and lots of berries at the Sunday market. But we are still enjoying lots of berries from the supermarket. They make perfect quick dessert. Like here, we

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-40668766423433028592009-12-01T22:11:00.000+13:002009-12-01T22:11:37.234+13:00

I'm feeling bad about not updating my blog for a long while. Since finding a part time job, I'm finding less time to experiment new dishes in the kitchen. What I'm getting good at though is cooking very quickly, and for multiple meals, as I pack my lunchbox most days. For instance, I like to cook extra for dinner, so that I have some leftover for next day's lunch. It could also mean preparing

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-45983778585188584152009-10-20T14:28:00.002+13:002009-10-20T14:30:48.928+13:00

I didn't make this up. This recipe was inspired by a Parisian designer friend. Tall, slender, pretty and fashionable, she exudes the type of style that we imagine all fashionable Parisian ladies to be. And she proves that fashionable big city Frenchwomen are just as good cooks as moms and grannies. You can also rightly imagine her to cook in super sleek modern kitchen. We had the pleasure to

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-11381672622015649252009-09-30T18:57:00.004+13:002009-09-30T21:25:24.642+13:00

Good friend PY was wondering why I haven't been updating my blog as often. I'm still cooking on a near daily basis and enjoying plenty of good desserts every other day. But not every dish is worth documenting, I supposed. And then I have been busy writing other much more boring stuff. Thought I'll introduce this perhaps lesser known French dessert. We all know crème brûlée. We all love crème

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-68959913062637450482009-09-21T21:30:00.000+12:002009-09-21T21:30:49.477+12:00

Hmmm....my food presentation skills are not doing justice to this tasty and easy to make crumble. Now it looks like some gluey fruits that has been messed around on a kid's plate. Looks aside, it is a pretty light dessert after a heavy dinner, as the crumble pastry is just a sprinkle on the pear rather than a thick crust The recipe is adapted from the Crumble cookbook by Martine Lizambard,

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-41586563998713653132009-09-15T17:19:00.003+12:002009-09-15T17:32:02.864+12:00

It's been almost one year since I last attempted Crème Brûlée. Now I'm back with an improved version, even though I still use the same recipe. This is because I now have 2 not-so-secret weapons: real vanilla beans and blow torch. And each time I do it, I am reminded again of the simple steps in making this favourite French dessert. We had bought vanilla pods with the remaining of our Tongan

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-87683126199047259332009-09-05T00:48:00.002+12:002009-09-05T00:50:08.554+12:00

We had a fruity dinner of pineapple rice and papaya sago dessert. Serving the food in the hollowed out fruits is sure a fancy way to impress guests (in my case, my other half). As for the recipe for making pineapple rice, I found that there are as many versions of it as there are for fried rice. So as usual, I cooked it according to the prevailing ingredients I had on hand, except for the

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-15012409744912318282009-09-02T10:59:00.000+12:002009-09-02T10:59:39.221+12:00

Our Southeast Asian dinner night continued for the second day. Once I open a packet of coconut cream, I have to finish using it. This time, no French dessert distraction. Just simply divine sago gula melaka. And we are very pleased to have come up with a more attractive way of serving up this Malay dessert. We have definitely made a giant improvement on the presentation part. But we still

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-59196741427095819132009-09-01T11:38:00.003+12:002009-09-01T12:04:50.746+12:00

I have a little of all the key ingredients leftover from previous dessert experiments. They are not enough to make another cake or tart, but too precious to waste. So a blueberry charlotte is created out of no recipe. Which is the beauty of charlotte, since no cooking is involved. You just mix and match what you can find in your pantry or fridge and voilah! A satisfactory conclusion to a great

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-54151949850468574022009-09-01T11:28:00.002+12:002009-09-01T11:30:34.228+12:00

We went to Tonga recently for holiday. If you don't know where's Tonga, you're not alone. We had to google to find that it is somewhere in the South Pacific, somewhere close to  Fiji and Samoa, not too far from the equator...but give me an unlabeled map of the world now, I still won't be able to tell the extremely tweeny islands of Tonga from those of Fiji or Cook or the likes or maybe even

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-62514791410347535102009-08-20T21:46:00.003+12:002009-08-20T21:59:11.568+12:00

I can't say peanut butter is my favourite spread. The thickness and richness sometimes feel too heavy and dry to my liking. Yet, there are times when I crave for it. So, although I do not bake cookies often, I had an urge recently to make peanut butter cookies.What I have learnt from this peanut butter cookie session:1) As the recipe uses only 1 egg, I can't divide the portion and so ended up

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-30988507471576561182009-08-18T21:10:00.005+12:002009-08-18T22:35:25.489+12:00

Certain French food can be extraordinarily seasonal. Or it seems to be the case for Rémi's family. And blueberry tart is made mainly during the blueberry season. While you can probably get frozen blueberries from the supermarket out of season, the pleasure is partially derived from picking wild blueberries in the countryside. And since the season is particularly short, the window for enjoying

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-31905446829450292942009-08-06T15:52:00.005+12:002009-08-06T16:35:54.025+12:00

My slow cooker has introduced me to an American boxing champion. Even more awesome, my slow cooker actually carries his autograph and has his smiling face gleaming at me from the instruction manual and cookbook. I've never been so up close with the boxing world. Boxer celebrity names are always alien to me, unless he has made a name for himself in some sensational murder or rape trials that hit

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-38472049809117575022009-08-05T22:18:00.006+12:002009-08-06T12:00:26.782+12:00

I found out that there's a group of Ikea hackers out there, who takes pride and pleasure in refurbishing or personalising their Ikea furniture. Like reupholstering their tired sofa with designer fabric, or reconfiguring a LACK shelving unit into a bench.Now there's no Ikea in New Zealand to turn me into another Ikea hack, but I have half a dozen Ikea's cheapo pine photo frames bought from

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-55305449388360246612009-08-03T20:44:00.005+12:002009-08-04T00:05:27.375+12:00

After one week of dessert deprivation in Tonga, followed by another week of after dinner yoghurt due to post holiday rest, we're back to our rigourous dessert régime. Saturday's lunch dessert was rhubarb tart, with lots of butter going into the crust, and tablespoons of sugar dumped into the rhubarb. Dinner's dessert was some leftover Chinese sago layered cake with red bean paste filling, not

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-47529660405964192612009-08-03T20:26:00.003+12:002009-08-03T20:44:26.046+12:00

I've found a good way to use up cooked onions leftover from making Onions and Olive Tart. It's easy, fast (since it's already cooked) and yummy. Here's my improvised recipe, if you're making this from scratch without making the onion tart first.Onion pastaServes 2about 3 onions, thinly slicedplenty of extra virgin olive oil1 bay leafchopped thymechopped rosemary1 clove garlicsalt and black

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-73909899331170234772009-07-14T15:10:00.004+12:002009-07-14T17:08:54.182+12:00

Apples are probably my favourite dessert ingredients because they are so easy and versatile, and as legend goes, helps keep the doctor away. Plus apples are easily available all year round.Besides the elusive French apple tart and our specialty apple crumble, we also like to cooked diced apples with cinnamon over low fire. The warm soft apples with some raisins added goes extremely well vanilla

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-68556969707148045322009-07-07T15:40:00.006+12:002009-07-07T20:27:16.533+12:00

There are some foods where just by eating one serving will fulfill your monthly quota of calories intake. Duck confit is one of them. Kouign Amann is the dessert equivalent of duck confit, except that instead of the letting the duck drumstick swim in duck fat, you drown the cake dough in a sea of butter and sugar. Don't be deceived by the harmless looking crust of the picture I took.Kouign-amann

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-77059983137237350642009-07-06T21:03:00.003+12:002009-07-06T21:19:20.100+12:00

Nothing new, but here's a variation of Clafoutis that I did last week.I did the same thing twice, first with just half an apricot. There was too much crust and not enough fruits, so I tried by putting more than one apricot, all diced up, into each muffin round.Making individual servings of clafoutis is useful for bringing them out on, say a picnic, no messiness with cutting the cake up.I wish

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-90002903934988536352009-06-25T18:02:00.006+12:002009-06-25T18:54:02.555+12:00

The spread of desserts here partly explain the absence from blogging. I've been cooking, eating, then more cooking and eating. Above picture courtesy of M, whom we had the pleasure of attending the party celebrating his engagement with LC. Our contributions include the peachy Charlotte, the tangy Lemon Tart, and Camille's Fondant au Chocolat. And here's a useful tip, for those who wants to make

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-68330149706990629032009-06-25T15:43:00.004+12:002009-06-25T18:02:31.196+12:00

One more French duck recipe from Camille, but it is not duck confit. We have considered trying to make our own duck confit, but after checking on youtube, we saw, horrors of all horrors, that you need almost one pot of fat to cook that already very fatty duck meat. Oh no, no way we're going to make cassoulet.A friend once asked, after enjoying a hearty meal of fatty cassoulet in France, how do

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-85321595636704044012009-06-12T11:11:00.005+12:002009-06-12T15:10:10.448+12:00

At 18 degrees Celsius, I was told that my rented apartment's internal temperature before switching on heater is warm. It is afterall the standard temperature recommended by the World Health Organisation. The average indoor temperature of a Kiwi home in winter is 16 degrees Celsius. And according to my classmate in French class, she can even blow fog out of her breath in her lounge, if the

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-23597966276583077392009-06-03T14:52:00.004+12:002009-06-03T15:42:15.750+12:00

The first dish that Rémi tried to impress me with was homemade lemon curd. Or rather, a 2-week old lemon curd on bread. Errr...well, I can say that I wasn't too impressed. Moreover, it was a tad too sour for me.Well, if he had known or seen this Lemon Curd Crumble recipe, he would have scored more points then.The recipe came from the Crumble cookbook by Martine Lizambard, published by Solar

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-2941343859943909042009-05-28T13:14:00.005+12:002009-05-28T19:36:59.490+12:00

I'm thought of being a wee bit philosophical today and get back to the roots of dessert.A quick check on google shows many dictionaries defining dessert as the last course of a meal, normally a sweet dish.Cuisine Net further explains that it came from the French word "desservir", meaning "to clear the table": "At a Medieval banquet, a table was laid with fantastic dishes, all of which were

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-24810789864686635022009-05-22T16:39:00.003+12:002009-05-22T17:14:42.032+12:00

No, I won't attempt to learn how to make croissant, it's something that even professionals in Wellington fail to make it right. Rémi has almost given up on buying croissants here after many disappointments from supermarket shelves and French cafes.Pictured above is a Pear and Almond Tart I attempted from my favourite Christelle Le Ru's dessert cookbook. It doesn't quite look like tart because I

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-33073909139360983932009-05-18T10:52:00.005+12:002009-05-18T11:58:31.893+12:00

Rémi the breadmaker has hijacked my bao project. He loves to eat Chinese steamed buns so much. So he couldn't resist not making them when he heard about my intention to do so.I have two steamed bun recipes, but eventually chose the one from "Chinese Desserts 100" written by Winnie jie (I trust the Cantonese to be good dim sum makers). I bought it a bookstore in Hong Kong's airport while on

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-91547779271832932502009-05-14T10:57:00.004+12:002009-05-14T11:41:40.963+12:00

Being not a big fan of sweet potatoes (aka kumara), it took me quite a while before I am again seduced by its abundance at the Sunday market.I bought two yellow fleshed and one orange fleshed sweet potatoes, having a vague idea of what I am going to do with them.Although I am not a big fan of sweet potatoes, they deserve credit for being a poor man's marzipan. I used to hear stories from our

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-90933007168150974512009-05-05T11:57:00.003+12:002009-05-25T11:17:33.590+12:00

Yes, we have a lot of fresh food over the weekend. Besides the duck liver (which is still sitting in the fridge and no longer fresh by now) and freshly grated coconut, I finally satisfied my craving for fresh oysters without the exorbitant price tag that comes with eating them at restaurants.For people like Rémi who are less tolerant of the taste of raw oysters with just lemon juice (strange,

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-78266739376759605442009-05-05T10:45:00.006+12:002009-05-25T14:05:56.992+12:00

Despite the absence of new entries for over a week, I am still cooking diligently to fill our stomachs, albeit with less fresh inspirations.The week has been punctuated by a mix of successes and failures. The highlight being Rémi's attempt at making foie gras paté after chancing upon fresh duck liver at the supermarket over the weekend.I'm not a big fan of anything to do with liver (except pig's

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-58029989499393935342009-04-22T13:48:00.006+12:002009-04-22T17:48:00.055+12:00

With a name as beautiful as its taste, it is still debatable how this classic French moulded dessert or its name come about.Besides sponge biscuits, bread, sponge bread or biscuits are also used to line the mould, which is then filled with a fruits and whipped cream or custard. The below Charlotte recipe was done with canned peach, making it very straightforward to make. Just make sure you give

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-52691549705824021802009-04-19T22:18:00.003+12:002009-04-20T15:06:40.290+12:00

Chestnuts feature very much in Corsican cooking (Corsica is an island off the South of France), so much so that they name an entire region after it (la Castagniccia).I remember on my trip there a couple of years ago, we were delighted to find ourselves camping under a chestnut tree. While it wasn't the season for chestnuts, we picked some leaves, and Rémi's mom made a Corsican cheesecake on the

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-58932909410069074562009-04-13T10:42:00.005+12:002009-04-13T11:38:00.878+12:00

I love my rice cooker. It's amazing how many things you can cook with it, beside simple plain rice. Steam, stew, boil (for steamboat), and now bread!Trust the Japanese to come up with this. Rémi tried and it worked! Although our bread didn't rise to a perfect round, but it tasted soft and freshly good nonetheless. To do this, you need to have, say an afternoon free. The actual kneading takes

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-74757794041340792602009-04-08T11:32:00.001+12:002009-04-09T14:16:47.509+12:00

This recipe is for my sister, who horror of all horrors, doesn't have an oven in her current rented apartment! She does have a dishwasher which I'm hankering after, but I'll choose an oven over a dishwasher if I can only have one. And she has a part time helper to do the washing, so that makes her dishwasher quite redundant too. (Afternote: she doesn't have dishwasher. Worse than that, it's a

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-2563637602256012682009-04-08T10:06:00.000+12:002009-05-25T14:04:15.624+12:00

Time for me to start understanding how to use glutinous rice, in case I decide to make rice dumplings to celebrate Duanwu Festival (端午节), known otherwise as Dragon Boat Festival (even though dragon boat is just one of the traditional activities to celebrate this festival marking the summer solstice).My cousin's grandma is very good at making steam glutinous rice. While I do not have her recipe, I

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-28390685044024578782009-04-03T12:06:00.006+13:002009-05-25T11:21:32.099+12:00

In my humble opinion (not that it counts for anything), saucisson ranks very highly in French food culture, besides wine and cheese.Saucisson is large dried sausage, normally pork cured with salt, and eaten sliced as a cold cut. Sounds straightforward? Until you go to a saucisson gourmet shop and you'll be spoilt for choice with the varieties available. Like cured with Provencal herbs, garlic,

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-88029269362617629242009-04-02T10:56:00.006+13:002009-05-25T11:21:32.100+12:00

All my Singaporean friends swear that the pork in New Zealand has a strong smell, unlike those in Singapore. Me and Rémi are quite oblivious to this 'smell' so far. But even my brother in faraway Sweden complains about the 'smelly' pork there. Hmmm...is this due to different breeds of pig or feeds used in Western countries? But wait, Singapore imports frozen pork from Australia.My father, a

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-36801086735283579102009-03-29T20:10:00.004+13:002009-03-29T20:42:53.939+13:00

We love tarts. So you can imagine us having tart tins of varying sizes. And the white ceramic ones are our favourite. They look nicer and tolerate the blade of the knife better. Well, we are also old enough to know that they are fragile and break into a thousand pieces if we smash them on the floor. Still, in the last 6 months, we managed to break 3 of them. That's at a rate of one every 2 months

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-86499124167708427752009-03-19T09:50:00.007+13:002009-03-19T11:40:46.213+13:00

Moving to a new country often means learning not just names of new friends, but also new names for familiar foods.The best example is the prized and hence pricey abalone in Chinese cuisine, of which New Zealand is a key exporter. But on coming here, we didn't hear any mention of the shellfish until many months later, when we were told abalone is actually known by its Maori name Paua here. Now

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-3718207950134575842009-03-16T15:33:00.004+13:002009-03-16T19:36:15.743+13:00

I would think our 'portion control' exercise has been quite successful. We definitely have comparatively smaller appetites than the usual Kiwis. We struggle to finish our main course in restaurants (well, the servings at restaurants are huge here), get full by sharing between two of us, a main course and a starter dish.Back at home, we hardly eat outside mealtimes. We seldom have space for the

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-85936599055751802282009-03-13T09:50:00.006+13:002009-03-13T12:06:44.100+13:00

After whining for close to two weeks about being sick, I'm finally well enough to do some bit of research and development in the kitchen. Before that, meals are almost about Chinese stirfrys and soup with rice. Very straightforward. And a lot of fish too, cooked mainly by steaming.The fish department in Wellington supermarkets generally has quite limited variety. So when we saw tuna steaks for

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-37670092474898549212009-03-02T14:11:00.005+13:002009-05-25T11:23:15.522+12:00

One of our 拿手好菜 (specialty) is apple crumble. When we saw this cookbook offering over 30 both sweet and savoury crumble recipes in Grenoble, we can't resist not buying. Not even the fact that all recipes are in French (better for me, let Rémi do all the cooking). And it's affordable at 7 euros, unlike those expensive celebrity chef cookbooks (I will blog about how to find good cheap cookbooks

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-37522377281609226792009-03-02T12:07:00.004+13:002009-03-02T12:52:10.190+13:00

Finally back from my long break. The holiday is mainly about spending time with family. But we also get to eat lots of good food, reminisce lost tastes and discover new delights.In Singapore, it's more about gorging ourselves with as much local delicacies as possible without suffering from indigestion. Managed laksa, nasi lemak, dou hua (sweet beancurd), steamboat at home, xiaolongbao, bak chor

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-56035267579569120422009-01-30T13:45:00.002+13:002009-05-25T11:20:52.657+12:00

Before I take a month long break from my food blogging, I thought I'll post something quick and simple, good when you're cooking for one.Unfortunately, my rosemary pot has died, after being eaten by bugs, and suffering from 2 weeks of drought. So I had to use dried ones, which is not so bad though.The roasted potato recipe comes from Jamie's guide to making me a better cook. It's quite

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-1270959599597897082009-01-27T11:51:00.004+13:002009-01-27T12:29:00.894+13:00

Our jam making experiment continues...Being penny-wise when it comes to jam-making, Rémi calculated that the cost of making 4 bottles of jam is cheaper than what we paid for 1 bottle.Making your own jam can be extremely mind blowing. May even be revolting to the health conscious, when right in front of your eyes, you see the jam-maker pouring one whole pack of sugar into the pan, which were to

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-36352345629774943372009-01-27T10:31:00.005+13:002009-01-27T21:18:17.498+13:00

If you have leftover red wine that's too good to throw away, but too bad to drink, the rule is to keep it.You can always trust the French to find a happy solution to their excess, undrinkable wine. They come up with this home device called a vinaigrier, a big clay pot where they pour their unwanted wine from the top and drains good wine vinegar through a tap at the bottom. I would imagine it

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-70509088787652533152009-01-26T11:27:00.007+13:002009-01-27T10:30:25.920+13:00

Contrary to its name, this cake is not an Arabic cake invented by Ali Baba. Neither is it a Peranakan cake (early Chinese settlers in the Malay peninsular who intermarried with locals and their male offsprings are known as Babas).As history goes, the Baba Rum cake is linked to this deposed Polish king in France. In exile in Lorraine, he found the Kugelhopf (a cake roughly similar to the baba and

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-33646920273051184952009-01-24T14:48:00.003+13:002009-01-24T15:27:14.620+13:00

My second Macaron attempt has been more successful. This time round, I ditched fanciness and opted to make more ordinarily-looking macarons, which is realistically more achievable for an amateur cook like me.Macarons de Nancy is a specialty of Nancy (a city in France), said to be baked by nuns seeking refuge in the region during the tumultuous French Revolution. It's also made up of egg whites

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-18186528450118859032009-01-22T10:54:00.006+13:002009-01-24T16:01:54.028+13:00

I haven't been keen on trying out macarons for a long long time, despite requests to do so. Yes, they are very French. And they look so daintily pretty and dainty looking desserts are not something I am good at. I do not also like to use food colouring. I am averse to eating food that looks too artificially coloured, and sometimes go to the extreme of pinching away that little red dot that marks

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-57958653305813006912009-01-21T13:56:00.005+13:002009-05-25T11:16:25.104+12:00

I've just found a cheesy way of using up my leftover fried rice, and pleasantly pleased with the result. Now I do not have to always cook Chinese fried rice to use up my leftover grains.I found this recipe "Peppers with Rice, Feta and Pine Nut Stuffing" in my The World Encyclopedia of Cheese, which I'm going to add to my list of frequently used cookbook. Long neglected, it actually consists of a

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-35496058583698298202009-01-19T09:33:00.004+13:002009-01-19T10:12:23.774+13:00

While it is absolutely inedible, this candied felt bag or box (however you see it) is an integral part of my aim to keep my kitchen tidier.I draw my inspiration from those plastic plastic bag holders by Ikea, which has many holes for you to draw out plastic bags. But first, there's not a single Ikea in the entire New Zealand (whose presence would otherwise drive the local furniture industry out

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-74466991991714474982009-01-17T17:12:00.003+13:002009-01-17T17:45:03.248+13:00

When I was a kid, I knew only two types of cheese: Kraft and Cheesedale Cheese. Both are cheddar cheese, but it doesn't matter. I had enjoyed a slice on my toast, with tuna, in burgers, on the Jacobs cream crackers, or just on its own. As I grew older, I learned that Mozzarella and Parmesan are good for pasta and pizzas. And there's this Philadelphia cheese that I made my cheesecake with.French

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-19066989673967303592009-01-16T14:46:00.003+13:002009-05-25T11:20:52.657+12:00

I must have been possessed last night to have tried to create this dish.It started with some recipes cutouts from a Chinese magazine (probably UW), given to me by PY. I was possessed by this Black Pepper Beef and Enoki Mushroom Roll recipe. But wait, enoki mushrooms (looking like golden needles, thus its alternate name) in New Zealand are classified as "exotic mushrooms", hence six times more

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-12210907568134990742009-01-16T10:57:00.006+13:002009-01-16T14:05:26.208+13:00

I imagine that the commercial jam market in France is very small. Even though it has a population of 61 million, and most of these 61 million Frenchies probably have jam on toast for their breakfast everyday.Why do I imagine so? Because French grany and maman (French for grandmother and mother) make their own jams, jars and jars of them. And they do jam exchange within the family, grany to maman,

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-19765316671951045582009-01-13T17:13:00.004+13:002009-01-13T17:48:38.363+13:00

Gula Melaka is essentially palm sugar. It is golden brown and usually comes in tube form. And it's a commonly used ingredient in Malay desserts.I don't know who named the sugar after the famous historic town in Malaysia or why, as palm sugar has a different name in Indonesia. And in our foodie hunt through Malacca's old town area a couple of years ago, we found and tasted more chendol than Sago

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-29899982751909160832009-01-13T16:11:00.005+13:002009-05-25T14:05:41.269+12:00

I reckon my stir-fry bitter gourd (or bitter melon or 苦瓜), cooked with sliced pork and black bean sauce, looks nicer, but I'll talk about my experiments with cooking duck the Chinese style.New Zealand may be too duck friendly. We see ducks everywhere, by the city waterfront, in botanical garden ponds, by the sea, in the lakes and wetlands. After all, it had been a country of birds with no land

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-62175855437456634342009-01-12T19:10:00.004+13:002009-01-12T19:21:51.548+13:00

We discovered this delicious Egyptian dry mixture of chopped nuts, seeds and Middle Eastern spices and flavors at a Christmas market in Wellington.We love festive markets like this, as it's a chance to experience new flavours and tastes, especially local produce, home-made jams, dips and honey. It's like going to a Japanese supermarket, where you get to sample different food products, all for

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-83816849982607709762009-01-12T18:39:00.004+13:002009-01-12T19:09:31.001+13:00

It's not a joke. Despite having posted so many tart and quiche recipes, I've not made the tart dough myself thus far. What you've seen (I mean the shell) were all done by Rémi.So, last Friday, I surprised Rémi with my first tart (or rather quiche). I had wanted to cook a simple dinner in advance, so tart/quiche is one of the best option. And preparing the tart dough turned out to be pretty easy.

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-25246914533464337152009-01-08T10:32:00.007+13:002009-05-25T11:24:01.024+12:00

There are days when you just want an easy quick dinner, and last night was one of them.I love garlic and mushrooms, and garlic mushrooms is a happy marriage between two of my several dozen favourite ingredients. Then, my potted parsley is growing so well it's time I should give it a little trim. I highly recommend the growing of parsley. A friend told me it's almost like a weed, which makes

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-63688342857467414282009-01-07T13:20:00.004+13:002009-01-13T17:51:35.206+13:00

I often have to cook for myself alone. And you won't see me boiling instant noodles most of the time. Neither am I expert in making enough variations of salads. Plus I love hot lunches. So noodles and rice feature frequently in my lone meals.It's definitely boring to cook and eat alone, and worst part is the washing after. So rule number 1: minimal utensils, just one pan/pot will do. So I tend to

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-23002882104194474052009-01-06T10:18:00.002+13:002009-05-25T11:25:07.223+12:00

Just back from a fulfilling, beautiful trip to the South Island of New Zealand. One of the highlights of this two-week trip is to indulge ourselves with berries and cherries. On our road trip around Golden Bay, Nelson and Marlborough region, we were lucky to pass by many fruit farms. Interestingly, most of these farms operate by honesty box. Their produce are kept in a fridge in a little kind of

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-87857133757301989832008-12-19T11:28:00.005+13:002009-05-25T11:21:32.100+12:00

The happy problem with French crêpe party is that there is no limitations in terms of the type of fillings you can enjoy, and you end up eating more than everything.The northwest region of France in Brittany is famous for their crêpes, but nowadays, you see French crêperies everywhere, even in Wellington. And they serve yummy crêpes!The biggest difference between a French crêpe and an American

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-1475824833600492972008-12-15T10:26:00.002+13:002008-12-15T10:42:30.310+13:00

So what do you think I would do with the leftover fancy ingredients from the fancy Pre-Christmas dinner. Well, cook up another fancy meal the next day.With leftover scallops and fresh lasagna sheets, we made another buttery seafood pasta. We had reckoned that a tomato or cream base would be too overpowering and mask the taste of the fresh scallops. It's very simple and fast, and can be done with

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-32826634716206178402008-12-14T22:26:00.004+13:002008-12-15T00:11:37.091+13:00

The last fancy dish of the pre-Christmas dinner is Tiramisu.We've made Tiramisu several times to pretty great success. Our friend Aure has a particularly good recipe which we liked.This time, we tried a new recipe, partially from a newly acquired cookbook "The Chocolate and Coffee Bible". It's from the same publisher (Hermes House) as my ultimate fish book and contains a wealth of information

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-40715771612138048082008-12-14T18:50:00.006+13:002008-12-15T11:01:27.874+13:00

Wellington is known for its cafe culture. We have so far spent many a weekends exploring the diverse selection of cafes, each with its unique and individualistic character. Well, I don't really drink coffee, but always enjoy my brunch at a local cafe, each with a different menu and using the freshest local ingredients in season. Many times, at a place with a view to die for, be it by the wild

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-29088503541264730992008-12-14T11:21:00.004+13:002009-05-25T11:17:33.590+12:00

The Ceviche is a popular appetiser in Latin American countries. Each country from Mexico down to Chile have their own touch of individuality.The dish basically involves marinating and cooking fish or seafood in citrus such as lime or lemon. Traditionally, you have to marinate for about 4 hours for the seafood to be 'cooked', but we cheated a bit by blanching our scallops with boiling water to

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-24246099279059831562008-12-14T00:18:00.003+13:002008-12-14T00:39:19.163+13:00

Since we may be stuck in some remote small town, or even in a tent in the South Island on Christmas, cooking instant noodles over a small camping stove, we thought we might as well have a nice dinner one week earlier.Being in recession mode, and also for the pleasure of cooking something fancy, we decided against going to a fancy restaurant. Afterall, we've been dining out quite a lot

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-83464307543155473602008-12-08T10:57:00.004+13:002009-05-25T11:14:27.079+12:00

Strawberry season certainly rocks. With this deliciously seductive fruit in season in New Zealand now, we can't resist buying one pack after another, especially when they look so lusciously sweet and affordable. And of course, we have no more excuse not to make some strawberry dessert.In Singapore, strawberries are not only pricey, they are also seldom sweet, being all imported and probably

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-12321809235402348182008-12-07T20:33:00.004+13:002009-05-25T11:25:07.223+12:00

Rémi has the credit to this beautifully puffed up Cheese Soufflé. I've seen soufflé many times but not really tried it. So, no basis for comparison whether it tastes as good as real, but according to him, it is just as his mom did it. Pretty good. And the big ramekin was just bought yesterday specifically to satisfy his soufflé craving.Recipe comes from the ever trusty Camille's classic French

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-23618677783048537002008-12-05T15:40:00.004+13:002009-01-13T17:51:35.207+13:00

My way of cooking the ladies fingers and prawns may not be the best in town, but it's my suggestion of what to do when short of time. Especially when I'm running late and have no time to defreeze meat (I don't believe in microwave oven).I love ladies fingers. Strange name, isn't it? But the pods do look like it. I wonder if there's any plant name "men's toes". Must be round and very hairy. Ladies

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-24467882866738678702008-12-01T15:04:00.003+13:002009-05-25T11:24:17.930+12:00

I was introduced to the Artichoke by Rémi. Just like a Westerner may be baffled by a durian, I was stumped by how to eat this edible bud of a thistle that originates in the southern Europe around the Mediterranean.I kind of consider this blog in part, a project to learn more about what goes through my mouth into my body (think our generation's obsession with highly processed food which greatly

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-68445710541747101312008-11-27T11:16:00.005+13:002009-05-25T11:20:52.658+12:00

Quite a few very traditional French dishes actually go well with rice, and Blanquette de Veau is one of them.I always thought that rice is very Asian, and in Camille's classic French cookbook, she has recommended rice as the accompanying side dish for several recipes, which left me wondering. It's quite common for Rémi's family to serve rice, but I have always assumed their family is the

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-51720198858583386772008-11-25T10:52:00.006+13:002009-01-13T17:51:35.208+13:00

I definitely wasn't expecting good results for my first Chinese egg tart experiment, but I was in for a pleasant surprise.I've googled different egg tart recipes, and there's so many different ways of making it, just as there are many types of egg tarts. Some are almost like an egg orgy, using more eggs than the crème brûlée. Me being the prudent, health-conscious, stingy homemaker, I opted for

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-27758379897056299252008-11-24T10:06:00.004+13:002009-01-07T14:10:17.279+13:00

For the past few years, finding the key steps to making the simple Apple Tart seems as elusive as understanding a woman having PMS. We tried so many times with different types of apples, we tried pre-cooking the tart dough. We also consulted at least two French mothers who are good at it (this being a very traditional, typically French dessert), and who in turn told us to simply put sliced apples

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-22885653698906888772008-11-20T11:08:00.004+13:002009-05-25T11:21:53.263+12:00

Jamie described his baked lamb shanks "incredible", and I'll say the taste is quite truly so. The first time I baked this, I may have baked a tad too long, as the vegetables were all melted into almost nothingness. Last night, on my second try, I'd shortened the cooking time, so the lamb was less brown, but it tasted as good nonetheless.The lamb was baked for so long in its own fats, as well as

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-51720059656558841922008-11-18T14:09:00.007+13:002009-01-07T14:10:17.280+13:00

Christmas to the French is what Chinese New Year is to the Chinese. It's holiday season, and a time for family reunion. Another similar trait is that each French family eat and do the same thing every year for Christmas, just like the Chinese. Or so I believe.On the eve, by default tradition, my family would gather for steamboat. The double steamboat would have a spicy tom yum soup base on one

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-45952961348246806612008-11-17T22:22:00.005+13:002009-05-25T11:21:32.100+12:00

The Hokkien Five Spice Meat Roll is more commonly known as Ngoh Hiang in Hokkien or Wu Xiang in Mandarin, literally meaning "five fragrances". Well, the famous Five Spice Powder (Wu Xiang Fen) used in Chinese cuisine is also literally translated as "five fragrances" from Chinese.Five spice powder is so named as it contains all the five flavours (or should we say fragrance) - sour, bitter, sweet,

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-91624895904823071032008-11-17T12:59:00.003+13:002008-11-17T14:23:57.299+13:00

Yesterday was certainly a busy breadmaking day. Aside from Pizza, Rémi also finally put his rye flour to good use. My conclusion is, unless you have a bread machine, it's more worthwhile letting the baker earned that 5 bucks. It's just too time-consuming. Three rounds of kneading, and two rounds of glazing, it took half the afternoon and night to complete the full course of making the bread, that

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-26807517166315420172008-11-17T11:18:00.007+13:002008-11-17T13:46:31.774+13:00

Pizza, along with guacamole, counts as one of the frequent dish we make when we entertain.As usual, Rémi would be the bread-maker, ensuring that we have a crispy thin crust that we could cut easily with a pair of scissors.And our pizza is never round. We always make a rectangular shape crust and line it on the big black oven tray. It is just perfect for feeding four persons, or two persons over

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-44800883541832587932008-11-14T20:01:00.006+13:002008-11-20T11:57:07.469+13:00

Certain French and English words may have such vastly different meanings despite sharing the same spelling.Lately, I have been translating recipes from Camille's Classic French cookbook using google's online translating tool (meaning I type out word for word the full French recipe onto the computer, without help from Remi). Some of the results can be quite hilarious.Like the below Fondant recipe,

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-41383751325507667862008-11-14T19:35:00.006+13:002009-05-25T11:23:42.535+12:00

A perennial favourite among our friends whenever we have lunch or dinner parties in Singapore, the guacamole is super easy to make and easy to please.A problem with buying avocados in supermarkets is that they are always not ripe enough. So be certain to buy a few days in advance, if you are planning to use it for entertaining guests. We have resorted to burying our avocados in our rice bucket,

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-68473863809602049912008-11-12T16:25:00.008+13:002009-05-25T14:04:15.625+12:00

Poularde de Bresse Aux Morilles is an interesting dish, that gives me a chance to introduce two very French food culture.First is the Morel (or Morille in French), a very tasty but expensive mushroom popular in French cuisine. I remember buying a small bottle, say 20g for 20 euros a couple of years back. It is small compared to the big button or portobello mushrooms that we're used to, but just a

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-1667431235626064052008-11-11T12:04:00.006+13:002009-01-26T17:04:27.580+13:00

My quest to use up the fresh lemons in my fridge is still on-going. Last night, dinner was roast lamb shank, seasoned with lemon juice, olive oil, lots of garlic...c'est bon! Dessert came in the form of lemon biscuits with vanilla ice-cream.Now, this lemon biscuits, recipe from Christelle le ru, is supposed to be quick and easy. Fast to make such that you basically just have to mix all the

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-4340263585757472812008-11-07T12:48:00.005+13:002008-11-11T13:48:52.464+13:00

I used to take pride in the fact that homecooked food has allowed me the freedom to add as much ingredients as I like. Think pizza. It's not a surprise that my homemade pizza is overladen with more than enough ingredients, bursting with too much taste that the flavours of some food are buried among others.This spaghetti recipe is surprisingly minimalist, and handy when your fridge is empty. It is

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-71891244938909571442008-11-07T10:56:00.010+13:002008-11-20T11:57:07.469+13:00

My sis-in-law I.S. passed me her super easy cupcake recipes recently. So easy that her little girl is able to help her with stirring the mixture. Now, being Milo addict, and Remi being an ardent fan of Nutella, I've decided to make chocolaty variations of the cupcakes, and all 3 versions turn out fabulously.Now, her recipe is useful for those who do not have a kitchen scale.As I'm used to

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-80479046584101522792008-11-04T09:46:00.012+13:002008-11-04T21:51:47.014+13:00

Am I getting more sotong? I find myself asking questions that should have already been addressed in primary school science, like what is lamb and how is it related to sheep, or how many tentacles does a cuttlefish have, as opposed to a squid and are we talking about the same sea creature?According to my Ultimate Book of Fish and Shellfish, they are "cephalopods" (now, this word is definitely new

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-88689372043561175082008-11-03T17:50:00.005+13:002008-11-03T20:14:21.574+13:00

I just learned today that 1 lemon is roughly equivalent to 50ml, which is about the volume of five ice cubes. And the zest of one lemon is equivalent to 1 teaspoon.It's a lemony day today, as I exhausted my morning squeezing juice out of some 15 lemons.You see, our friends B&Z are leaving Welly, meaning our free supply of organic, pesticide-free lemons is coming to an end. So we decided to pluck

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-34911329669387632962008-11-03T12:28:00.008+13:002009-01-13T17:51:35.209+13:00

Don't try this at home, unless your objective is to punish your other half by making him/her make this.I found this Black Sesame Paste dessert recipe in my Cantonese cookbook and was very motivated to try it out myself.Alas, the short description of the steps to making the sesame paste much underestimated the tediousness of the process, especially if one doesn't own a proper blender.To achieve a

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-53850901544299670152008-10-31T11:03:00.003+13:002008-10-31T12:15:09.036+13:00

A lazy evening warranted a simple, easy to cook dish, that required minimal reference to recipes and washing. And the big red and yellow peppers bought last Sunday was screaming their wish to be devoured. So I got the inspiration to cook Spaghetti out of this sweet and sour peppers dish I had learnt from my Italian cookbook "Easy Italian in Minutes" sometime ago.It's very simple, but not the

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-48940570101709443702008-10-28T18:20:00.004+13:002009-05-25T14:04:15.625+12:00

Until recently, I was absolutely confused by the colours of ginger, thanks to Enda. As she gave me verbal instructions on her various specialty dishes, even herself was colour-blinded by different species of ginger.You see, blue ginger (also known as galangal, or lengkuas in Malay, or 南姜 in Chinese) is actually pinkish in colour. Yellow ginger (turmeric, or kunyit in Malay, or 姜黄 in Chinese) is

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29114911.post-87325056786728002822008-10-26T18:39:00.004+13:002008-11-20T11:57:07.470+13:00

Just like angkukueh or mooncakes, cannelés (pronounced 'can-ner-lay') are not considered cannelés when they are not made with the right mould. A cannelé mould is somewhat like that of a normal cupcake, except that it has a smaller diameter, and dodecagon in shape. And a real traditional one has to be made of copper. A specialty of Bordeaux, they are said to be created by nuns. Commonly found in

Rémi and Fangiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12093014569853744050noreply@blogger.com2