( g a s t r o n o m i c a l l y )

The other day I went down to the English Shop and bought some Wilton ready-to-use black icing and a small jar of concentrated orange colour for the icing. (Why is Sweden so boring? Sell black food colouring in supermarkets FFS.) Anyway, I just have to say the ready-to-use icing tastes... ick. I tried some and it left a strange after-taste, like sweet plastic or something. Then again, it might taste better on a cupcake. In any case, I'm considering going back to the store to buy black colouring. Also, a trip to Panduro for some fondant might be in order.

Anyway. I'm planning on making Halloween cupcakes, but I haven't decided how I want them yet. Either I decorate them myself or I let people decorate their own. Also, what flavour should the cupcake be? Because there'll be a lot of decorating going on, I think a tarter batter will compliment the sweetness of all the icing and sugar. Decisions, decisions xD

Photos when I've made them!

Bought a packet of fresh gnocchi at Lidl the other day. Not sure what to do with it, really. It seems like a rather filling "pasta", seen as though how a recipe I found uses 500g for 4 people.

Also, I have the greatest itch to bake right now. Gah.

If there is one thing I love about Gothenburg, it's that it's the #1 café-city in Sweden. There are god-knows how many cafés here, which also means that finding that extra special café becomes a little bit harder. I've looked for a proper Gothenburg café guide, but no luck so far. Hence, I'm going to attempt to try each café in Gothenburg once, and write down reviews. Here's a list of the one's I've been to so far (that I can remember):

- Ethel's (Linnéplatsen)
- Café Java (Vasaplatsen)
- Condeco (Avenyn, Centre)
- Egg & Milk (Linnéplatsen)
- Café Husaren (Haga)
- Tintin (Avenyn)
- Greenwich (Avenyn)
- Kafé Kosmos (Centre)
- Le Pain Francais (Centre)
- Pour Bon (Centre)
- Frank's Coffee (Centre)
- Cassels Café (Centre)
- Café Brogyllen (Centre)
- Andrum (Centre)
- Café Zenit (Majorna)
- Café Puh (Majorna, closed)
- Coffee Dreams (Linnéplatsen)
- Villa Belparc café section (Slottskogen)
- Café Dali (Vasaplatsen)
- Café Mekka (Centre)
- Nöller Espressobar (Haga)
- Café Madeleine (Hisingen)
- Espresso House (NK)
- Café Vasa (Vasaplatsen)
- Café Rosa Pantern (Vasaplatsen)
- G Chocolat (Grönsakstorget)
- And the Bakery (Vasa Viktoria)
- Språkcaféet - The Language Café (Rosenlund)

Recommended places:
- Café Villekulla
- Blue Mountain Café
- Café Kardemuma
- Café Marmelad
- da Matteo
- Sucré-salé
- Biscuit

Updated 06/01-09. More details to follow!

Wow. Last post was in August? =_= Shame on you, Julie.

***

2008 seems to be heading in the right direction for me, or at least in terms of food and cooking. From Chinese-style pierogi to cauliflower-potato mash, I've already learnt how to prepare several dishes this year (which sadly equals up to the amount of dishes that I've learnt in the last two years...) I've discovered the joys of making your own bread, learnt the secret to making my favourite egg dish, and been taught how to handle a side of pork loin fillet, WITHOUT harming myself.

In terms of appreciating foods and drinks, I see that the past year has given me a more 'mature' palate. I'm in love with white wine (bordering on addiction xD), I enjoy eating rice more than ever and I am more willing to try different food options.

Food is life, life is good.

My copy of 500 Cupcakes ordered from Wettergrens AB is arrive in the mail tomorrow! =D *is excited*

Also known as, "Proof That Julie Can't Really Take Close-Ups". xD

Anyway, here's most of the food photos taken in Malaysia. Sit back, ignore the crap quality of some images, and enjoy ^^

( Feast for all! )

That was it! ^^ There were so many other things I had to eat, but unfortunately we had limited cam space, and also... people stared when I took photos, so I usually took them when the restaurants/cafés weren't too croweded. Heh.

... It struck me that I don't know how to prepare any Chinese dishes. Which is ironic, considering how my dad is a chef. Anyhoodles, when I was younger a young Chinese couple used to baby-sit me. I remember that Ah Yi (Ah Yi-Shu Shu, that's what I called them xD Means Auntie-Uncle) used to make mantou buns. She didn't make them like Wiki's pictures show them as - they were "wrapped" together with bits of chopped scallion. Needless to say, there were heavenly and will always be one of my most loved foods.

Ah Yi-Shu Shu moved to the States around 1999, and ever since then I have eaten scallion mantou ONCE, and that was when I had tuition at my ex-Chinese teacher's place. I regret not asking them how to make it, since I took for granted that the food would always be there. So, I must learn to make mantou sometime.

Going back to Malaysia this summer will have to serve a culinary class for me xD; I'll have some time to learn to make my grandma's food, which is one of my long-term goals. When she's gone, so will the meals she made. Unless I learn how to prepare them.



Oh, I started with the banoffe pie right after my previous post xD Current stage: Toffee and Digestive base to be cooled over night... It's too late to make the whole thing, since no-one will eat it =/

Lately I've been going to Greenwich café for all my café-going needs. It's a nice place by Gothenburg's Avenue and - most important of all - the food is good, served in generous amounts for a good price, and somewhat unique.

Anyway, whenever I'm there I make sure I buy a slice of their banana-chocolate pie. ♥ It's LE YUM. And so, I must learn to make it. Another variaty is the banoffe pie, which I might attempt soon-ish (considering how there's a whole stack of condensed milk in the cupboard).

I WANT PIE.

Yesterday I felt like using my peppermint extract that I bought a few days ago. So, I made chocolate filled choco-mint cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and sprinkles ^^ It turned out... okay. I dunno, I had higher expectations of my little cupcakes, but my family loves 'em, so xD; But I should add more extract next time, and a bit more sugar in the batter.



( More cupcake photos + others )

Wow, this is hilarious xD I had half of my white chocolate sauce left over from the orange cupcake fest, and since I thought it being eaten cold was too slimy and nasty I popped it into the mirco for 2 minutes. When it came out I saw custard-like blobs floating in it. I realised that this could lead to something good, so I popped it back into the mirco for another minute or two, and sure enough, when I took it out again it had turned into something looking like creme brulée! (Minus the burnt crust.) T'was heavenly to eat, and I added crushed Digestive biscuits on top to give it more texture. ♥

The good thing with this mirco-brulée is that the creme and egg didn't curdle, for which I was happy about. Could've been because of the white chocolate binding it together though.

Here's the recipe if anyone wants it, btw:

White Chocolate Micro Brulée

100 g white chocolate
~ 1 ½ dl cream
1 egg
2 tbsp milk
Crushed Digestive biscuits

1. Break chocolate to smaller pieces and place in a bowl.
2. Heat cream up in a pan till at simmering point.
3. Pour cream over the chocolate and stir till melted and well-mixed.
4. Add egg and milk, whisk lightly till egg is properly mixed in.
5. Refrigerate for 1 hour or two. (I do this to let the mixture thicken and cool down)
6. Micro at 750W for 2-ish minutes, always watching and checking the mixture for desired texture.
7. Cover top with Digestive.

After this I refrigerated the brulée for another hour because I wanted to eat it cold, but eating it warm is nice too =3

I've made icing twice now, and it never turned out the way I've seen on so many cakes and cupcakes. What am I doing wrong? xD; I know that butter is vital, but my butter is fairly good. I think.

*waves aside* Anyway, I made 2 bento for my ski trip. Problem is, it was 4 AM and my mind was fuzzy, ergo I forgot to snapshot the evidence. Woe woe.

I made some plain (= no icing) orange cupcakes to pack into the bento though. I also made a what-was-hoped-to-be a white chocolate icing, but unfortunately it turned out a lot more watery than I'd anticipated, so I had to leave it as a sauce for dunking the orange cupcakes in. Yummy ♥

I think I'll make some lime cupcakes with (successful) white chocolate icing next time xD

2 ½ weeks ago I found my mouth constantly being filled up with food, food and more food. 2 parties, and time to cook? No wonder. However, by the time the weekend was over and Monday had arrived again, my gorging accumulated and I found myself in bed for the next 2-3 days.

Yes, boys and girls - too much of the good stuff.

Aaaanyway, after a few week's rest from cooking and baking, I got back into the kitchen on Friday =D Made a chocolate Genoese sponge cake with a strawberry buttercream layer. Very tasty, didn't look too appealing (hence no photo) xD I messed up the buttercream, but thanks to my mom's brilliant cake book (which I am now qualified to use due to my collected cake-experience bank) I know what I did wrong and can fix it next time I make the recipe again.

I also made a Quiche Lorraine the same evening, since I found the recipe I wanted to use. Not as good as my first time, because the crust was thicker, pie form smaller, and the egg mix too salty. However, my folks and Marcus loved it so I can't complain ^^; (Which reminds me, I need a new pie form...)

Oh, here's a photo of Mabel's bento I made for her school trip.


LEFT: Scrambled eggs with chopped and stirfried yardlong beans, slices of cold chicken, rice with furikake.
RIGHT: Smarties, Marabou Daim chocolate, prawn crackers, ketchup (in tub), biscuits (not seen).

( Bunch of food pics I've been too lazy/busy to post =P )

( +2 more blurry photos xD )

Yeees. This was Mabel and my dinner for today =P I was too lazy to cook, hehehe. But the quesadilla was nice~

For the record, the cake's known as "kladdkaka" in Swedish (lit. "sticky cake"). It's our take on brownies xD

So today I woke up feeling as though I'd turned into a lump of lead, and my throat was killing me. After re-prioritizing school in my head, I decided I should stay at home ^^

This means I'm all alone in the house, meaning I have to make my own lunch. After watching 4 food programmes on TV in a row on Sunday, and reading through 2 cookbooks yesterday evening, I was totally pumped up when I went into the kitchen xD (A similar thing happened at dinner yesterday, which ended up with me making apple crumble and mushroom-potato frittata.) And today, I cooked up some fresh tagliolini and made a tuna-fettucine alfredo sauce to go with it for lunch ^^ (No photo evidence because 1) presentation sucked due to lack of veggies and 2) I was too hungry to bother xD)

Anyway. I should probably be drinking chicken soup if I'm sick, but bollocks to that. My lunch is good enough as sick food! =O

Speaking of which, why is chicken soup the standard sick food anyway? *wikis*

[cross-posted @ merry eatings <3]

Yesterday my sister (dragonpyre9) made her fried salmon and burnt onions-and-bacon mix with mashed potatoes for dinner ^___^ She makes some darn good mash, I have to say xDD Looks like she got our dad's cooking skills =3



'Scuse me for the dull lighting >.< Our living room isn't particularly well-lit.

Today, I finally completed the list of ingredients (and mustered up the courage) needed to make Japanese onigiri balls ^.^ *victorious cheer* Yay! xD It wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be, although I did kinda panic as I prepared the stuff... xP That's how I am in the kitchen, always anxious and over-cautious when trying new things.

Here be 5 onigiri, 4 of them with mayo-tuna filling and 2 with furikake =3





(P.S: Wow, I'm mighty impressed with the quality of my new cellphone's cam =O)
(P.P.S: FOOD COMM STARTED! Click here.)

English Scones* (6 pieces)

You'll need:
4 dl flour
1 teasp. salt
1 teasp. baking powder
50 g room temp. butter or margarin
1 1/2 dl cream
2 tablesp. cream for coating(?)

1. Set oven to 225 degrees (Cel.)
2. Work the dry ingredients together with the butter.
3. Add cream and knead into smooth dough.
4. Flatten out till about 2 cm thick, then cut out 6 round bits using a cup or similar. Coat with cream.
5. Bake on a baking paper-covered tin plate for about 10 mins or till scones reach a nice colour.
6. Eat while warm with clotted cream or butter and marmelade.


Chocolate Tea Bread* (6 pieces)

You'll need:
2 1/2 dl flour
2 teasp. baking powder
1 teasp. baking soda
50 g room temp. butter or margarin
2 dl castor sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 dl cocoa
2 dl sour milk
1 1/2 dl chopped walnuts

1. Set oven to 17 degrees (Cel.). Butter and crumb a rectangular form.
2. Mix flour, baking power and soda in bowl.
3. Beat butter and sugar together in another bowl till grainy.
4. Add eggs.
5. Mix in the cocoa till the batter is smooth and free of clumps. Add sour milk and dry ingredients. Work all of it together till everything's mixed.
6. Fold in the walnuts and bake for 1 hour.
7. Let cool before eating.

*(From 'Afternoon Tea' pulished by ICA Bokförlag, translated from Swedish)

Which do you prefer? (your choices in bold)

01. CHEESE or CHOCOLATE?
02. BLUEBERRIES or STRAWBERRIES?
03. COFFEE or TEA?
04. CORN MUFFIN or ENGLISH MUFFIN? (I'm not sure =/ Never had corn muffin!)
05. PANCAKES or FRENCH TOAST?
06. YOGURT or CREAM CHEESE?
07. RICE or PASTA?
08. CAKE or PIE? (... Farking evil. How can I choose? TT3TT)
09. GROUND BEEF or GROUND TURKEY?
10. HOT DOGS or HAMBURGERS?
11. JELLY or MARMALADE?
12. AMERICAN CHEESE or SWISS CHEESE?
13. DIET SODA or NO SODA?
14. LEMONADE or ICED TEA?
15. CHERRIES or GRAPES?
16. CHOCOLATE QUIK or STRAWBERRY QUIK?
17. WAFFLES or PANCAKES?
18. WHITE BREAD or WHOLE-GRAIN/WHEAT BREAD?
19. PEAS or CARROTS?
20. PUDDING or FRUIT-FLAVORED GELATIN?
21. COLD CEREAL or HOT CEREAL?
22. KETCHUP or MUSTARD?
23. MUSTARD or MAYONNAISE?
24. MAYONNAISE or KETCHUP?
25. BLACK OLIVES or GREEN OLIVES? (None =.= Ew.)
26. ONION or GARLIC?
27. PLAIN BARBECUE or BARBECUE WITH SAUCE?
28. SCRAMBLED EGGS or FRIED EGGS?
29. EGGS or EGG REPLACEMENTS?
30. MEAT or VEGETABLES?
31. CHINESE TAKE-OUT or PIZZA?
32. SUSHI or DELI SANDWICH?
33. WHITE CLAM CHOWDER or RED CLAM CHOWDER? (What the hell is chowder and what does it taste like? =O)
34. KEY LIME PIE or LEMON MERANGUE PIE? (I'm guessing lime, since I like lime over lemon xD)
35. PIE & ICE CREAM or CAKE & ICE CREAM?
36. WHIPPED CREAM or CAKE FROSTING?
37. HONEY or MAPLE SYRUP?

( Rest are here x3 )

Aaah.... What started out as a crappy food day ended up to be quite satisfying! ^__^

S N A C K
Water
KitKat Chunky
Rating: - ♥
Prepared by: Myself
Comment: Damnation. I didn't have time to eat breakfast this morning because I had to leave at 07:30, and so this was all I had till lunch, which was at 13:00 T_T And during this time I had to sing in a church, play badminton for an hour and endure an English lesson listening to my teacher, all whilst running on... well. No fuel at all, more or less >.<

L U N C H
Swedish Christmas rice pudding with cinnamon powder and "saftsås" (concentrated juice sauce... approximately.)
Gingerbread cookies
Knäckebröd with butter and cheese
Water
Rating: ♥♥
Prepared by: School canteen
Comment: This was quite an interesting "lunch"... School canteens usually serve Christmas food to the students just before the holidays. Thing is, my old school didn't do this, and therefore today was the first time I had a Christmas lunch ^^ I have to say that it was quite nice, but I had been hoping for a lunch more "filling" and not sweet + porridgy. Thank god they had the knäckebröd... ♥

S N A C K
Milk
Buttered raisin mini-scones
Rating: ♥♥♥♥
Prepared by: Marcus
Comment: Heeheehee, on Monday Marcus and I looked through an English tea book that I'd borrowed, and it was full of recipes for tea-time ^__^ And of course the traditional scones were included, and Marcus got quite sentimental after seeing the photos xD Hence he convinced his sister Elin to bake scones and when I got to the Sextons' this afternoon I got to have some x3 Yummy!

D I N N E R
Sloppy Joe with cottage cheese
Milk
Rating: ♥♥♥♥
Prepared by: Mabel
Comment: Oh goodness ♥ Mabel is really handy to have in the kitchen, since she cooks nice food and I don't have to do it 8DD (Kidding =P) Anyway, I've never had SJ's and I thought it was pretty darn nice ^___^ Not to mention heavy on the stomach xD The cottage cheese was just me being obsessive with having it with everything... *shifty eyes* Yes.

S N A C K
Magnum Dinner Ice-cream
Lipton's Yellow Label tea
Rating: ♥♥♥
Prepared by: Myself
Comment: >3< Ice-cream and tea galore~!

S U P P E R

Rating:
Prepared by:
Comment: