Dessert By Candy

The holiday season is upon us and of course it means we get bombarded with "special holiday edition" of everything imaginable. My recent favourite is the Tim Horton’s coffee cup design with a cheerful illustrated scene of winter wonderland. I especially love the two snowmen toasting each other with a steaming cup of coffee in their hands…are they suicidal or something?!

Another favourite of mine is the Coca Cola polar bears and penguins commercial. The furry little animals are so cute and adorable, no? Well, they are except that it doesn’t make any sense at all. When I saw that commercial for the first time in a movie theatre, I immediate pointed at the screen and exclaimed "That would never happen! Polar bears and penguins live across the globe. They can’t possibly meet!". When the bears slid across the snow to be among the penguins, I thought to myself "Mmm, buffet". However, I still love this commercial despite of its complete lack of common sense. After all, it’s the holiday seasons and everybody is entitled to do what they need to do to give us that warm and fuzzy feeling, don’t you think?

I cannot contain my excitement for receiving an affirmative response today for my dinner reservation at El Bulli! It’s almost like Christmas came early for me. On to the serious matter of trip planning…

I’ve never been to Spain before so this is going to be a trip planned around many restaurants. On that note, the first half of 2007 is going to be interesting with so many travel plans crammed into the span of a few months. In February, I already signed up for a ski trip at Mont St Anne with plans to visit the Winterfest in Quebec City. In April, I’ll be traveling to London, Sweden, and Marrakech for my best friend’s wedding. The big finale will of course be El Bulli in June.

What a grand way to make up for my lack of traveling in 2006!

As a competent semi-professional/home baker, I try to make all my baked goods from scratch if at all possible. However, making pie dough is not exactly one of my favourite activities so I was eager to try out the new Pillsbury Pie Crusts. This 425g package contains two rolls of pre-rolled circles that I can simply unroll to use. I have never used frozen pie dough before for one reason only: I don’t like the format. In Canadian grocery stores, frozen pie dough either means pre-formed dough in disposable aluminum pie plates or a block of dough that I need to roll out myself.

This dough is super easy to use. The ingredients listed lard as the fat component. My personal favourite fat for pie doughs is a mixture of lard for flakiness and butter for flavour. However, I’m happy that it is not vegetable shortening. There are some "weird" ingredients that I wouldn’t have added in my own recipe such as xanthan gum, potassium sorbate, sodium propionate, citric acid, and colour. However, for the convenience factor alone, I’m willing to sacrifice a little.

After I rolled out the dough, of course I looked for the marbling of fat. Unfortunately, it is not very pronounced. The texture of the dough was pliable without being sticky and I managed to put together an old-fashion double crust apple pie in minutes.

I’m not so keen on the baked up product. It is super flakey to the point of shattering. I only cut the pie into eight slices but none of the top crust could maintain in one piece. That’s only cosmetic. What was more annoying though was the fact that the pastry cracked during baking. This means the juices from the filling bubbled up and spilled out of the pie. I will probably only use this pie dough again if I desperately crave homemade pie *filling*. If I want a decent slice of pie, I would rather go through the trouble of making my own pie dough.

It really sucks (for lack of a more articulate description) to think that I made a great impression only to realize that my best just isn’t quite good enough. Of course, impression is a very subjective matter. Perhaps I was at my best but I’m just not up to the expectation. This is the exact reason why I majored in math and chose a career in the software industry. Right/Wrong exist in this world that I chose. Yet, at the same time, it allows a large degree of creativity to reach this absolute conclusion. Unfortunately, interaction with people does not have this element of simplistic elegance. It’s never about right/wrong. It’s all about I feel, I think, I’m under the impression, I I believe, I interpret, I like, I hate, none of which are objective.

For a few hours, I really thought I did everything right to get what I want.

It was a crazy weekend of shopping. I went to Club Monaco and got myself an outfit that is oh-so au courant. I bought a pair of black stovepipe jeans, an off-shoulder cashmere grey Ameline Sweater (on sale for $99, cashmere!!), a pair of black leggings, and a Killa bag (as seen in picture). That bag is a beauty, not to mention very roomy.

On Sunday afternoon, I went shopping with RS at the One Of A Kind Craft Show. Here are a few of my personal favourite fashion finds.

• Jewelry from Calgary designer Kari Woo: her earring designs are unlike anything I saw before. It’s minimalistically elegant.
• Knitted hats from Vancouver designer lajla: the wooly hat in the picture above was super cute, inspired by the houses in the town Trullo. I call it my Teletubbies hat because of the little pompom. The hat is made with 90% alpaca wool.
• Karen Wilson Handbags: very feminine style but whimsical at the same time. They are a little out of my price-range but it’s still wonderful to window shop.

Shopping with RS of course means we lingered over the food section much longer than anywhere else at the show. This year we saw some new artisans and there were some excellent stuff available.

• chocolate from Alain Vaidie: this chocolatier only makes chocolate a couple of months per year and is available at craft shows only. The flavour is complex and intense. So far I’ve tried his Tea Caramel and Fig Chocolate. The caramel is infused with Earl Grey tea and coated with powder green tea. The Earl Grey flavour came through loud and clear. The Fig Chocolate is a combination not commonly seen but it works. The graininess of the fig does not distract from the chocolate flavour but instead brings out the fruitiness of the chocolate. Highly recommended.
• Nut Truffles from Confiserie Tessier Dit Lavigne: If you like marzipan, this non-chocolate truffle is for you. Think a nuttier and less sweet version of marzipan with 80% nuts. The depth of flavour is good because it is made with a mixture of walnuts and pecans.
• Hutzelbrot from The Big Dipper: this is a German Christmas fruit cake made with lots of dried fruit, not candied fruit. RS and I each bought a loaf and I plan to serve it with a cheese course in one of my upcoming holiday parties.

I thought that I would break my habit of chips and oatmeal dinner before practice. Alas, my valiant effort of scarfing down a plate of lemongrass chicken fried rice was such a bad idea. As soon as practice began, all of my abdomenal muscles decided to bunch up together to the point that it was painful for me to stand upright. Fortunately, skating upright is discouraged anyway so I somehow got through practice in a blur of pain.

Alright, I tried. I’m going back to chips and oatmeal on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from now on.

I finally started on my holiday baking this weekend. After 5 different batches of cookies involving 8 different doughs, I’m a little exhausted now and sipping on honey ginger tea. Variety is the key this year so to spread out the workload, I began with refrigerator cookies this weekend. These are five that I made:

• White Chocolate Lemon Cookie
• Tweed Crisp with Chocolate and Coconut
• Gingerbread Man
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Spiral
• Chocolate Hazelnut Sable

Next week I’ll make some shortbread cookies with various flavour such as masala chai, green tea, and lemon lavender. Once I get closer to the date of having all the gifts ready, I’ll bake up some bar cookies and different drop cookies.

Just as the title suggested, I did exactly that today. I can keep on thinking and weighing the pros and cons over and over but I decided to take action instead. Probably not one of my most brilliant moments but I should be alright. I realize that this is one of the side effects of mulling my plans over with friends. If I keep my mouth shut, I usually just bottle up forever and think of the possibilities. However, once I talk about things in open, I would take action more often than not without any persuasion. After all, I would look like a wuss if all I do is talk, isn’t it?

This is not courage by any means. It is just another manifestation of my stubborness.

I love Pierre Herme’s Émotion desserts. These layered desserts are served in a glass with each layer offerning different flavour and texture, constrasting or complementing each other. I’m inpired to create my own version of an Émotion dessert. It’s been a long time since I last created any new recipes so I was very eager to try out this idea of pairing poached pears with maple and chestnut. The TISC end of season party is my perfect opportunity. It’s a low stress event (i.e. people tasting my creations do not have high expectation of my desserts) with a few key restriction such as wheat free, easy to transport, easy to serve.

makes 20 servings

Ingredients

White Wine Poached Pears

• 1 bottle (750mL) of white wine
• 250mL of water
• 300g sugar
• 2 tbsp of lemon juice
• strips of zest from one lemon
• 4 sticks of cinnamon
• 1 vanilla bean, split
• 3-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
• 1 star anise
• 6 ripe but firm Anjou pears, peeled

Chestnut Gelée

• 425g chestnut purée
• 425g crème de marron
• 425g water
• 16g gelatin powder

Maple Mascarpone Cream

• 500g medium grade maple syrup
• 3.5g gelatin powder
• 5 large egg yolks
• 250g heavy cream
• 250g mascarpone

Method

White Wine Poached Pears

1. In a heavy large pot (I like to use my Le Creuset dutch oven), combine all the ingredients except for the pears. Bring the poaching liquid to a boil.
2. Submerge whole pears into the poaching liquid and simmer on low heat until pears are tender (shape knife can pierced into the pears effortlessly).
3. Cool to room temperature and store in refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Chestnut Gelée

1. Bloom the gelatin in 50mL of water. Microwave for 5 second intervals until all the gelatin is melted to a clear liquid.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine chestnut puree, creme de marron, and water until smooth. Stir in melted gelatin.
3. Distribute evenly into the serving cups. Chill in refrigerator until set.

Maple Mascarpone Cream

1. Cook maple syrup at medium heat until it is reduced to 225g. Pour in heavy cream and bring to a boil.
2. Bloom the gelatin with 15mL of water. Melt to a clear liquid by microwaving at 5 seconds intervals.
3. Temper the egg yolks with the maple syrup and cream mixture. Cook to 180F for a creme anglaise. Stir in the melted gelatin.
4. Chill in a container in the refrigerator until set.
5. Using the paddle attachment, beat the maple creme anglaise until smooth. Slowly beat in mascarpone cheese until the mixture is thick and smooth.

Assembly

1. Dice the pears and evenly distribute in the serving glasses on top of the chestnut layer.
2. Evenly distribute the maple mascarpone cream to the serving glasses.
3. Garnish each glass with a piece of marron glacé.
4. Store in refrigerator for up to one day until ready to serve.

So I enjoyed a very busy day today with a facial in the morning, a visit to Ontario Science Centre in the afternoon, dinner at Spring Rolls, and a birthday party at a friend’s home at night. It’s a little embarrassing to admit but I like my bi-monthly facials. The visit to Science Centre was fun. It has been a long time since I last visited this museum. It is my favourite museum in Toronto because there are so many interactive displays that are fun and educational. The Wired To Win movie at the OmniMax theatre was awesome though I wish that there are more cycling footage. Dinner at Spring Rolls was actually better than I expected (note that I have very low expectation from this establishment). The decor is very trendy. I had a bowl of Pho Saigon and an order of Hourse Spring Rolls. It’s not spectacular but I mean, it is really reasonably priced food in a comfortable setting. I can see why business is striving for this chain. Interestingly enough, I ran into BC. We used to work together at Linda. It was rather nice to run into old friends. The party at AL was a nice diversion from my usual routine. I learned to play poker…and hung out with friends from DaBoat.

Phew, that was a lot of tedious details. However, it was just a very long-winded way to say that I’m in a very good mood, better than I remember in a very long time. Well, surprise surprise, it’s because of you. I only hope that you think of me the same way too.