LG Farmers' Market: The Spread

Every time I go to the Loewen Gardens Farmers' Market, I spend about two to three times as much as I would in a normal, productive grocery store trip, and half of the spoils could be considered frivolous delights. But it only happens once a month, right?

I arrived via the chariot of the proletariats, the train and bus, with an assortment of tote bags at my side. Surveying the spread and the crowd, I lamented my inability to make it to the farmers' market pre-noon. There was a good crowd, which meant certain favorites would already be sold out.

I checked with Organic Himalaya and there was Cynthia, chatting away with someone about ginger jam and doling out samples. I came for my usual peach jam, and walked away with their new version (with cointreau), peach classic, and plum jam. If you're a regular reader, you know I love their peach jam, but why the plum? Well, the Resident Taste Tester is very much into plum jam and our recent supermarket purchase just didn't satisfy, so I went to our most reliable (and arguably most environmentally friendly) source, OH.

So after I spent two-thirds of my allotted market money on jam (ahem), I went in search of fresh rosemary. OH was out (though Cynthia said to just send her a message next time and she'll set some aside for me), but The Pantry guy had a nice fat bunch of hydroponically grown rosemary that made me swoon at the scent. Still in a daze from the herb bouquet, I bought over a kilo of Brussels sprouts, nodding in agreement that they probably would make fantastic soup. I wandered through to the back end of the market and sampled some cured ham from the people with the paella (does it really hang around to dry for two years after curing?) and bought organic asparagus from another vendor. My last purchase was half an Australian variety of Japanese pumpkin (yeah, I was a little curious when the nice lady told me that too, but think on it a while) from a stall near the front of the market, which will be roasted if I'm feeling mildly ambitious, or steamed if I can't be bothered.

If you made it to the end of this post, good for you! I sort of can't believe you actually read my recount of Saturday farmers' market shopping in its entirety. For your charitable reading, you are thus rewarded with preview photos of up-coming posts of things I meant to tell you about ages ago:

Yes, it's that welcome back brioche.

Lemon seeds strained out of lemon juice with a tea steeping cup for outrageous lemon cake (RTT birthday cake one of two).

The taste-testing batch of meringue (or pavlova, if you will) for Z's birthday.

By the way, after I drafted this post, I made dinner. I made the pizza dough from SmittenKitchen.com and rolled it out really thin, then brushed it with olive oil and scattered thin slices of garlic and crumbled feta on it before baking. Now, before I baked that, I roasted pumpkin slices and halved Brussels sprouts (wow, I've been slurring those words together for my entire life without realizing there was an "S" at the end of the first) with rosemary. Then I piled as much of the vegetables on top of my baked pizza crust and ate it while pumpkin loaf cake finished baking. Score.

Where Do The Hours Go?

Sooo... I haven't posted in a while. Sorrrrrrry!

My satisfying-as-tepid-bathwater excuse is that I've just been lacking time and access to my photos. The Resident Taste Tester conveniently ran off to China this weekend with my fabulous transition pictures of brioche, amazing brunch spreads, and other things.

I promise I'll post again. Maybe not in a timely manner, but it will happen.

Also, Z's birthday celebration is THIS WEEKEND. I've made a game plan to space out the cupcakes, macaroons, and meringue so I don't turn into a pile of mush by Saturday evening.

In other news, I've been spoiled by Valrhona chocolate. It's sort of tragic that I can't enjoy a lot of crappy chocolate delights anymore, save for Oreos and Nutella. To ease my embittered heart, I'll continue to eat bits of Valrhona. Vicious, delicious cycle.

In conclusion, sometimes I wish I had a blog where I could feel free to emotionally vomit all over and ramble on in a catty, cryptic way, but that's just not what this is about. So if you're looking for some amateur baking and food blogging, I'm your girl and I promise promise to have some real posts soonish. If you're still feeling a little dissatisfied, this might make you feel better.

Until next time!

X M

Since You've Been Gone: Semi-Fail Brownies

 Brownie tops, courtesy of that infernal fake non-stick hussy of a pan.

Dear Readers,

As most of you know, the Resident Taste Tester has been out of town (to correct my previous post, he is approximately 4100km away), and he has taken the camera (well, I put it in his hands so he could send neat pictures of far away places). But! I am not to be disheartened from posting.

Now, these grainy, even more poorly lit than usual, and completely lacking in composition photos are only being shared with you because I like you. I like you in the way that I would go shopping with M back home and be shy about a sort of fugly (is anything only sort of fugly?) swimsuit but come out of the fitting room to show her anyway. Yes, I like you oven-peeping folk that much.

So anyway, I made brownies a couple days ago. I adapted this brownie recipe from allrecipes.com. I wanted to spice them up a bit and tried to create a brownie-molasses-cookie hybrid. I thought the mini muffin pan might do well. Not learning my lesson from last time (that this non-stick claim was a crock of poop), I pried the brownies from it and then promptly threw it away. This left me with a pile of brownie rubble rather than neat little two-bite dreams. And then I compulsively ate them to hide my baking shame and to ease a little watching-movies-by-myself loneliness.

Brownies
Adapted from allrecipes.com

Yields 18 two-bite brownies (made with itsy bitsy muffin tins)

 1 T  unsalted butter, melted
1/2 C  sugar
1  egg
1 T  molasses
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 T  cocoa
1/4 C  flour
1/8 tsp  salt
1/8 tsp  double-acting baking powder
1/4 tsp  cinnamon
1/4 tsp  ginger

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F (177C).
2. Grease and flour whatever pan you're going to bake in.
3. Whisk together the butter, sugar, egg, molasses, and vanilla.
4. Add the cocoa, flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and ginger and beat until homogeneous.
5. Fill pan (2/3 full for muffin tins) and bake 15-20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out dry with just a few crumbs clinging to it.
6. Cool 1-2 minutes in the pan before slicing/removing.
7. Enjoy!

 Brownie Reflections

Non-stick. Mhmm.

I think if I did this again, I would double the molasses, ginger, and cinnamon and cut the sugar in half. I would also just plop the runny batter on a greased and floured tray to make cookies. The brilliant thing about these brownies were the tops that had runneth over the tins. They came away with an easy twist (leaving the rest of the brownie to be scraped out, ugh), slightly crispy on the outside, brownie soft on the inside.

I am glad to have that lie-of-a-non-stick-pan out of my life. No matter how carefully you greased and floured the thing beforehand, it would coax unsuspecting baked goodies to become one with its matte metal surface. As with all useless and frustrating things in life, you eventually tire of them and they end up in the trash (I'm all for reduce, reuse, recycle, but man that thing was evil).

Look forward to a few more fugly bikini style photo sharing posts.

Hiatus

Dear Readers,

The Resident Taste Tester is out of town doing exciting and scholarly things far away from the oven, which means my go-to person for taste/texture opinions is gone, as well as the technologies to post fabulous pictures.

The will to bake is there, I promise. Unfortunately, the ability to capture photos with ease is about 3600km away.

What I'm trying to say is the site may go into torpor until after Independence Day. That doesn't necessarily mean there won't be updates over the next two weeks, it just means posts will be rolling out slower and with less photos.


Let me make it up to you; post recipe trial suggestions in the comment section and I'll pick a few (or maybe all of them considering my small but mighty readership) to test out.

Thanks for reading folks!

X M

Chef Jacket?!

For any of you paying really close attention, I changed my profile picture. I've started helping out a friend with her desserts when I'm free. In this picture, I was trying my hand at being a food stylist. I hope I can assist her more regularly, but let's see where this goes.

In any case, it feels pretty good to wear a chef jacket.

Photo credit: Foo Yong Koon

Hey YOU

Thanks! Really, thank you for reading. I get pretty pumped up about it when people leave evidence of their blog wanderings here. If we happen to meet, I owe you a baked goodie or two.

X Melissa

Pretzels: Parmesan & Rosemary

Parmesan and rosemary pretzels, fresh from the oven and ready to party.

Basic pretzels are made with all same things as baguettes (flour, salt, yeast, and water) plus brown sugar. Toppings or roll-ins can take you in any direction, sweet or savory, simple or complex.

Rosemary pretzels, covered with chopped fresh rosemary and coarse salt, just before baking.

As some of you recall, the runner-up for the readers' choice poll was parmesan pretzels. I still had some fresh rosemary when I made these, and like all good little cooks, I decided not to let precious fresh herbs go to waste.

Parmesan pretzel, with as much parmesan sticking to it as possible.

The pretzel recipe I followed is from The Kitchen Project, a sweet, how-to website (specializing in German cuisine) that could use some layout updates. Check them out and don't giggle too much at the visual presentation, they have some good things going on in the kitchen.

Inside view of the baked rosemary pretzel.

Parmesan and Rosemary Pretzels
Adapted from The Kitchen Project


Yields 12 medium pretzels

1 C (99 g)  all-purpose flour
3/4 C (98 g)  whole wheat flour
2 T  brown sugar
1 tsp  salt
1/2 T  yeast
1/2 C + 1 T  lukewarm water
2 T  baking soda
4 C  water
coarse salt
parmesan, grated (optional)
rosemary, chopped (optional)

1. Mix the lukewarm water and yeast, then combine with the flours, sugar, and salt, mixing thoroughly.
2. Knead the dough for 2 minutes, place in a bowl, and cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap.
3. Refrigerate the dough overnight.
4. Remove from the fridge and punch down the dough.
5. Divide into 12 (or 6 for large pretzels) even pieces.
6. Roll one piece into a rope about two feet (61 cm) long, leaving the middle third slightly thicker.
7. Form the pretzel shape (see the original recipe for visuals), pressing ends into the pretzel to secure.
8. Place on a lined baking sheet (I use silicone mats), cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled (about an hour).
9. Preheat the oven to 440 F (225 C) and bring the 4 cups water and baking soda to a simmer in a pot.
10. Drop pretzels into the water (do not crowd) to a count of 10, basting with a ladle or turning for another count of 10.
11. Cover the tops of the pretzels with toppings of your choice (the rosemary is very nice with coarse salt, the parmesan is lovely solo).
12. Bake 12-15 minutes, until the pretzels are nicely brown (not golden, but brown).
13. Remove to a rack to cool (they're yummy warm and fresh, just, you know, don't burn your mouth).
14. Enjoy!

Pretzel Reflections

The extra parmesan hanging off the pretzel is crisp and wonderful to eat.

I don't think I'd ever had a rosemary pretzel before I made them and by golly, they're delicious. Don't get me wrong, parmesan pretzels are scrumptious too, they're just not novel to me. They have this amazing butter flavor when fresh from the oven; mysterious, but completely welcome. Pretzels are great with sweet mustard, butter, cold cuts, and cheese. Feel free to get crazy with toppings and use whatever appeals to you.

I think they could be chewier; I've read bagel recipes that suggest leaving dough in the pot of water for 1-2 minutes on both sides. Still, the texture is quite nice as written.

I feel like I should be trying more savory recipes. I love sweets, but I think there are flavors and textures to be explored and there is so much to gain practicing different breads. Plus, breads add to meals, making home feel really nice (especially when it's timed just right so bread is coming out of the oven when the Resident Taste Tester walks in the door). We had these with brinner, a spread which included cheese, cold cuts, grapes, strawberries, baked beans, scrambled and sunny side up eggs, bacon, toast with butter and kaya jam, extra pulpy orange juice, canned coffee (trashy and just right), and a crepe cake to top it all off. Yum.

Note to self: keep baking.

Rosemary Bread and the Plain Baguette

Two loaves of rosemary bread and one plain baguette.

There comes a time in every baker's life when (s)he breathes in the air wafting from the oven and just knows that something has gone right. Hopefully this happens nearly every time, but I have to admit that bread is the best. 


No, it's really not the same as when you toast something (especially when the toaster sets a flame). There's an olfactory warmth flooding every kitchen-connected corridor that can make even the least spiritual person have visions of heaven. Baking rosemary bread, my friends, is nasal ambrosia.


I bought fresh rosemary from two different vendors at the farmers' market last Saturday. One was hydroponically grown, sold by The Pantry. The other was organically grown in Nepal and sold by Organic Himalaya Produce. Of course I compulsively sniffed the herb bouquets while wandering the market, dazzled by how the little bunch from OHP was far more fragrant than the sapling-esque hydroponically grown variety.

Top: Hydroponically grown rosemary, no pesticides used, sold by The Pantry. The bunch was approximately 10" long, with leaves nearly twice the size of any rosemary I'd seen before. The Organic Himalaya Produce vendors took one look and said, "Fertilizers."


Bottom: Organic rosemary from Nepal, grown and sold by Organic Himalayan Produce. The bunch was about 3" long and had normal-sized leaves. The organic was far more fragrant than the hydroponic when purchased.


Just the day before, I had been day dreaming about rosemary bread from the Corina Bakery in Tacoma, WA. This had to be fate.


The Corina Bakery site doesn't hint at how their rosemary bread is made, though a casual comment on yelp.com let me to believe the recipe was baguette-based. Those of you that have done your reading know that real baguettes consist of only yeast, water, flour, and salt. That is why my rosemary bread is just rosemary bread and not a rosemary baguette.


I did make a regular baguette along with the two rosemary loaves (does it still count as a baguette if you mix in whole wheat flour?). Apparently a lot of bakers spend a significant amount of time perfecting baguettes, and I can tell that this will invade my life as well. The baguette recipe I used can be found at kingarthurflour.com and some helpful shaping instructions can be found at artisanbreadinfive.com.

This looks a bit too much like stock photography to me, but I wanted to show you how all three loaves look in entirety rather than just texture-ific close-ups.

Rosemary Bread and Plain Baguettes
Adapted from the Baker's Catalogue 2001, posted at kingartherflour.com
Yields 3 loaves


starter:
1/2 C  water
1 C (100g)  bread flour
1/16 tsp  yeast


dough:
starter
1 tsp  yeast
1 C  lukewarm water*
2 C  (200g) bread flour
1 1/2 C (195g)  whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp  salt
1 bunch  fresh rosemary (about 5 T per loaf), optional**
coarse salt (to sprinkle on top), optional


*in the original recipe, it says to add 2 T water if you use bread flour, but I found that to be too wet
**I used half as much when I made my bread and it didn't read as well when tasted, so pump it up!

This is what starter looks like after a good sleep.

1. Mix up your starter, cover, and let it sit at room temperature over night. (It'll have a texture similar to that glue-paste you used in kindergarten. Do not be alarmed.)
2. After your starter has had a good sleep, mix the yeast and lukewarm water together. (It won't bubble and froth up like when you give it sugar; totally normal.)
3. Now mix everything, including your swampy-looking starter, and begin kneading on a floured surface. Knead for about 5 minutes, until it's soft and decently smooth.
4. Cover dough with greased plastic wrap and let it rise 1 hour, punch it down and turn it over (picture above right: dough after first rise).
5. Cover it again, let it rise for 2 hours, punch it down and turn it over.
6. On a lightly floured surface, divide your dough into three equal portions and shape into ovals.
7. Cover dough and rest 15 minutes.
8. Take one oval, flatten a bit, sprinkle with 4 T rosemary (optional), and do a three-fold like a business letter or wallet; pinch the first fold into the center and pinch the final flap to seal your roll (click here for shaping help).
9. Gently stretch your roll out to about 12-15", allowing it to rest a few minutes between stretches if it's not compliant. Don't fight the gluten!
10. Repeat this for your other two pieces of dough and set about 2" apart on a lined baking sheet.
11. Cut three long diagonal slashes on the tops, cover with greased plastic wrap, and let rise for an hour or so (you want the loaves puffy but not quite doubled).
12. Preheat the oven to 450F (232C).
13. Brush or sprinkle plain loaves with warm water and brush rosemary loaves with olive oil, sprinkling with 1 T rosemary each and some coarse salt (leave your plain baguettes alone, just the warm water!).
14. Bake about 25 minutes, until the loaves are nice and brown. Remove to racks to cool or just turn off the heat and crack the oven door a couple inches to cool slowly (the slow cooling makes for the crunchiest crust).
15. Enjoy!

Shaped dough before entering the oven.

Rosemary Bread and Plain Baguette Reflections

Rosemary bread with coarse salt, the crispiest and crustiest bread I've made to date. Just look at that torn crust and the assortment of air pockets inside.

As always, bread takes some time and planning. Then again, you're only touching it for a little bit between rising/resting periods, during which you could nap or watch a movie or obsessively search for new recipes. The result, granted nothing goes epically wrong, is lovely.

The smell in the kitchen! In the living room! Everywhere in the apartment that wasn't sealed off from the oven was heaven scent (LOL? A giggle? Anyone?). I have to say that I have never experienced any smell in my life as delicious and heady as fresh baking rosemary bread.

As noted in the recipe, 2 T fresh rosemary worked into the dough and 1 T on top were simply not enough to make the rosemary flavor really read in the bread. Doubling the in-bread rosemary seems like it'll do the trick, and perhaps a quick crush to release the oils a bit more wouldn't hurt.

Organic versus hydroponic rosemary? Surprisingly, our hulky hydroponic rosemary read in the bread a bit better than the organic variety. Strange. I'll let you know how things go with the doubled herbs soon. Also, if anyone sees anything about scratch and sniff pictures via the interweb, let me know, because you would reap the benefits on this one.

One more texture picture to tease you.

BEST JAM OF MY LIFE and Other Farmers' Market Treats

Organic sweet potatoes and other fresh produce can be found at the Loewen Gardens Farmers' Market.

Remember when I was rambling on about how wonderful homemade pumpkin mash is? Whether you do or don't, there was a plug for farmers' markets at the bottom, including the one and only farmers' market in Singapore. It looked a little something like this:

Loewen Gardens Farmers' Market

1st Saturday of the month     9a-2p

75E Loewen Rd, Tanglin Village

6474 0441

The Resident Taste Tester and I went to it this past Saturday, the 1st of May. Not many people seem to know where Loewen Road is, and that included our taxi driver. Hint: it's in the same neighborhood as Dempsey (we actually walked 10 minutes to Dempsey after the market, very close).

While the place is small, with about 15 or so vendors, it does have its gems. We found friendly people offering us organic sweet potatoes (yes please), hydroponically grown rosemary (that might be nice for bread), sun-dried tomatoes, wine, cupcakes... It's hard not to buy something from everyone, not just because they're nice and you want to support local business, but also because it all looks so good.

I'd have to say my favorite vendors were these two women from Organic Himalaya Produce. They chat you up about how they fly in fresh produce, herbs, teas, oils, and jams every week from their organic farms in Nepal and are offering you samples of their tasty jams at the same time. This jam is amazing. Literally, THE BEST JAM OF MY LIFE, and I say this without hesitation or exaggeration. I'm obsessed with their peach jam, to the point where the $11 jar is over halfway gone and it's only Wednesday. I'm glad I put myself on their mailing list so I can bother them with peach jam hoarding weekly. You can email them at cynthiahoefer@mac.com (doesn't sound very Himalayan, but I don't care so much about the story, just the jam please).

Organic Himalaya vendors at the farmers' market. Fresh produce, jams, and oils are flown in every week from their organic farms in Nepal.

Organic Himalaya's peach jam, a.k.a. THE BEST JAM OF MY LIFE.

Another delightful thing about Organic Himalaya Produce is the rosemary they sell. The leaves are smaller than the hydroponically grown sort that the Pantry was selling and I believe they are much more fragrant. I bought a $2 bundle from both vendors and am proofing rosemary bread as this is written.

Two varieties of rosemary from the farmers' market. The smaller bunch is organic from Nepal and the other is hydroponically grown, sold by The Pantry.

One more vendor caught my eye and that is one at the very end of the trail: Madz Chef. Madz is run by Madhvi Timbadia and when the shelf is empty behind that Banana Walnut Bread sign, it's with good reason. Banana bread is not an exotic nor fancy baked goody, but something that speaks of home to me. My mom makes amazing zucchini bread and while they are clearly not the same thing, the texture and feeling surrounding the sampled bites were reminiscent of my childhood. Unfortunately, this homey goodness is probably why Madz was out of it by the time we sauntered up, a wee hour before the whole shebang was to close shop. Next time, Madz.

Madz Chef's booth, completely sold out of banana walnut bread and something else I cared about less because I only wanted the banana bread.

The next Loewen Gardens Farmers' Market is on the 5th of June. Mark your calendars, pack your tote bags, and prepare to ignore the girl foaming at the mouth at 8:30am outside the gate muttering something about peachy jam.


If you already forgot...

Loewen Gardens Farmers' Market

1st Saturday of the month     9a-2p

75E Loewen Rd, Tanglin Village

6474 0441

Smashing Pumpkins

Steamed and smashed butternut squash; a fresh, from-scratch substitute for canned pumpkin puree.

This post has little to do with front man Billy Corgan; if google has led you here for music, please hit the back button.


For those of you left in the room, welcome to pumpkin smashing 101! Whether you're desperate for a can of pureed pumpkin and your entire country seems to be in a canned pumpkin shortage (like me) or you just like doing things from scratch (also like me), you're in the right place.


Just how much smashed pumpkin do you need? I bought half a butternut squash (labelled butternut pumpkin in SG) and was able to smash out about 2.5 cups. Your standard 15 ounce can of Libby's pureed pumpkin contains 1.75 cups. I suggest you keep that in your notes for recipe time.

1/2 butternut squash ~ 2 1/2 C smashed

15 oz. canned pureed pumpkin = 1 3/4 C pureed

Excellent. Now, how do you pick a pumpkin/squash for your own mashing pleasure? Libby's uses "Dickinson" pumpkins, which are supposedly their very own Libby's breed. They look similar to butternut squash, just a lot longer. I've personally never met one of these genetically modified Libby zombie pumpkins, so I wouldn't know what their insides are like until they hit the can, but I've heard tell that using butternut squash = better pie!


Are you ready to smash?


Homemade Pumpkin Smash or Puree


Yields approximately 2 1/2 cups canned pumpkin puree substitute, a.k.a. fresh smashed or pureed pumpkin


1/2 butternut squash (your one and only ingredient!)

Steamed butternut squash chunks, cooled and nearly ready for mashing.

Skins removed from steamed squash.

1. Wash the skin of the squash and cut into chunks roughly 1"x3".
2. Place skin side down in steamer basket and steam for 15-20 minutes or until tender enough to mash.
3. Remove steamer baskets from heat and allow squash to cool completely.
4. Remove and discard skin (you can scoop away the flesh using a spoon).
5. Mash squash with a fork or puree in a blender/food processor until smooth (smooth-ish when mashing manually).
6. Set aside what you need then cover and refrigerate or freeze remaining squash.

Smashed Pumpkin Reflections

Smashed butternut squash, ready for recipes.

The squash had a slight funk to it after it was steamed. There wasn't any funk to the delicious things I've made with the mash, but still, this pre-use funk bothers me.

If you're freezing the leftovers, I'd advise portioning it out into 1/2 cups so you can easily defrost a known quantity at a time.

I really like squash. They keep goods moist and tender, are full of flavor, have a terrific variety of textures, and add nutritional value (a high dose of vitamin A in butternut squash). Try using it in pancakes, scones, cupcakes, breads, soups... the list goes on and on. I think squash are neglected because people find them a bit spooky to prepare, but steaming and baking them - so easy. Don't be afraid to pick one up next time you're at the grocery store (or farmers market yeah!*); you won't be disappointed.

*If you're living in Singapore, check out the Loewen Gardens Farmers' Market this Saturday, the 1st of May. Admission is free and the market is full of divine goodies you'll be hard pressed to find elsewhere. See gorgeous pictures here (by Ivan Ng, a.k.a. NinjaHelloKitty at Flikr. You can see his food blog here).

Loewen Gardens Farmers' Market

1st Saturday of the month     9a-2p

75E Loewen Rd, Tanglin Village

6474 0441

Options for the folks back home in the Seattle-Tacoma area:

Tacoma Farmers Market

Thurdays  8:30a-2p     Opens May 20

Broadway Street, between 9th & 11th

see the website for the 6th Ave and South Tacoma info

Pike Place Market (Seattle)

Pike Place/1st Ave Level:  Mo-Sa 10a-6p     Su 11a-5p

DownUnder Stores: Mo-Su  11a-5p

85 Pike St

Auburn International Farmers Market

Sundays  11a-3p     Jun 13 - Sep 26

A St & 2nd St SW, easy access from Hwy 167/18

Lillie Brinker 253 266 2726

lbrinker@auburnwa.gov

Kent Farmers Market

Saturdays  9a-2p     Jun 5 - Sep 25

2nd Ave N & W Smith St, next to library

Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance (Seattle)

Washington State Farmers Market Association

Kitchen Wish Lists & Being Your Own Fairy Godmother

Dear Reader, meet Almond Roca Cookie. ARC, meet Reader. ARC is from the oven of Emeril BAM! Lagasse at the Food Network. Indeed, she is made of sugar and spice and everything nice, as detailed here. I made this particular batch for an F1 get together a couple Sundays ago, substituting toffee bits for hammer smashed Werther's Original candies and omitting the oil for the dark chocolate drizzle. Unfortunately, ARC is not what we're here to discuss today. She was just a lure. I promise we'll come back to ARC another day.

Now that I have your attention...

Late last night, in an afternoon nap induced state of alertness, I cruised the internet for recipes. I found some of the loveliest things to shove in the oven, but through my wanderings, I became increasingly aware of the kitchen equipment I was lacking/craving.

So, between obsessive compulsively linking recipe titles in my email, I came up with a kitchen wish list:

Things I Wish I Owned That Make Me Feel Dreamy When I See Them

• tart dish
• stainless steel mixing bowl(s)
• sharp knife (or rather a whole beautiful set of sharp knives)
• rubber spatula(s)
• 12+ cup muffin tin
• ramekins (plural is not an option)
• souffle dish
• electric hand mixer
• frosting spatula
• full spice rack
• mini torch
• cake stand
• pastry blender

I have always loved kitchen things. My boyfriend, being the wonderful and thoughtful man that he is, got me several pieces of kitchen equipment for my birthday last month. I have used them all, save for the fondue set, which we will remedy very soon in a chocolate dipped weekend paradise. Still, my addiction is not satiated. That's the nature of addiction, it's never enough.

I don't think I've ever seen a ramekin (let alone a mini torch) for sale in Singapore, so I looked to the all knowing internet for insider secrets. Big thanks to Only Slightly Pretentious Food and  She Bakes and She Cooks for pointing me to Lau Choy Seng at 23,25 Temple Street (below).

It sounds strange, but I seriously felt like a kid in a candy store. Shelves and shelves of knives, stainless steel bowls, gleaming white porcelain, and so much more I don't need but desire to slip off the shelf and into my basket anyway. Stainless steel mixing bowl, check. Sharp knife, check. Rubber spatula, check. After finding out that they were completely out of 8cm ramekins, I took about five seconds to tell the man I wanted eight of the 9cm size.

After a reasonable kitchen supply binge at LHS, I decided to give the other shop recommended in the blogs a try. Just down the street is Sia Huat Pte Ltd at 7, 9, & 11 Temple Street. Yes, it is true what they say, SHPL is a bit more organized than LHS, but the employees seem to be running around like mad and answer questions nearly breathless before dashing off to help the next customer. Rumor has it that they are more expensive than LHS, but I barely glanced at prices as I drifted down the aisles, eyes glazing over from the money I just spent at LHS and the glistening array of cookie cutters before me. They had just about any shape I could think of. I find this crab cutter aaadorable (below).

Unfortunately, neither store had what I envision a proper hand mixer to look like. They both had upright mixers (drooool), a variety that would fit neatly on the kitchen counter and also some that could destroy a toddler should one fall in, but no hand mixers.

When you're at a loss in the hunt for kitchen appliances, go to the domestic holy land: the department stores. I gave Takashimaya's basement a spin and while they have a decent selection and knowledgeable staff, I decided to shop around. Just down Orchard Road was TANGS. The people that work there are generally useless and have no real scope of their stock, so I took to wandering and happened upon a hand mixer that comes with a stand/bowl set up and a set of dough hooks for $39SG. DIRT CHEAP. Now it lives in my kitchen and makes me smile. While it's no shiny KitchenAid upright mixer, it'll do.

After my kitchen supply bender, my previous list now looks like this (items in purple have been added after the original post was published):

• tart dish
• 12+ cup muffin tin
• souffle dish
• full spice rack
• mini torch
• cake stand
• pastry blender
• pizza cutter
• cookie sheets (plural is important because one is not enough)
• an actual upright mixer (dream big)
• a jolly assortment of random cookie cutters

Much more compact, no? (Answer: Definitely no, because...) Still, I can say with absolute certainty that this list will swell again, but that's how wish lists go. In the meantime, I can day dream about fancy things to do with my little army of ramekins.

Current weather in Singapore: Warm, absolutely pouring, and peppered with lightning and thunder. Love it.

It's Never Too Late To Do What You Love

I come from a family of scientists.

My dad is an electrical engineer.* My mom is a laboratory technician. My brothers didn't fall far from the tree, one being engineer and the other being a pharmacy tech preparing to start pharmacy school next year.

I am a biologist. A conservation biologist, to be exact. At least this is what I thought I wanted to do with my life while studying and taking data on various research projects for years (that, to the left, would be a Pisaster ochraceus consuming a mussel during my summer 2007 independent research). Since I graduated in December 2008, I've been traveling Asia, fumbling around with the idea of getting my act together and getting a real job.

I liked the idea of being a starving biologist, getting dirty in a jungle to save some habitat and never earning a cent; a poor nerd fighting the good fight. But the more I looked for a job, the clearer it became that this wasn't really my passion. After several months of sifting through the internet for biology internships, I realized one big thing: This is not what I want to do for the rest of my life.

That left the question open: What do I want to do with my life?

The one thing that I've done for nearly my entire existence that I've always derived joy out of is baking. Cakes, cookies, pies, scones (whole wheat white chocolate ones to your right)... You name it, I want to bake it, and it never really mattered if there was a legitimate or beneficial reason to. Once my family had exceeded the comfortable gastrointestinal capacity to consume at the rate I was baking, the bounty of my hobby spilled into the hands of friends, co-workers, friends of friends, and homeless people. This realization that I could possibly get paid for doing something I've been happily doing for free all along struck me as dreamy.

This idea is probably why people often end up working in jobs they don't really care for; they have financial needs and whatever they actually enjoy doing is too fanciful to believe in for legitimate employment. I'm here to smash that idea and by golly, reader, you're going to watch.

Part of my game plan to achieve my tag line is to bake something I've never baked before once or twice a week. This decade to complete success is a rough time estimate and of course there are other steps along the way in addition to experimenting in my own kitchen, but I figure a weekly program of my baking escapades will keep me inspired and keep you tuned in. You'll also see posts about industry people I've met, restaurants I'm applying to, interesting technique demos, and normal oven goodies sprinkled in.

Please keep reading and feel free to send me various tidbits pertaining to the art of pastry making.

Enjoy!



X Melissa






*Or rather, he was an electrical engineer. Pops retired last month.