J'ai un rêve...

I think lately my drive for patisserie has kicked up into high gear - I simply just can't stop making things! (not that I'm complaining... its the people who are my taste-testers who complain after devouring god-knows-how-many cakes hehehe). Just the other day I made another, albiet smaller, batch of chocolates with the Mannekin-Pis on top. More of that on a better day :)

Alors....

It's less than 6 hours before I pack off to the airport and you guys should see (!) my fridge! It's packed to the max with goodie giveaways for some office staffs and friends as an uber-advanced new years greeting... without the card. Somehow in the midst of the packing, running, baking, printing, yelling and etc, etc, I had forgotten to buy some early new year cards to give with the goodies. Good thing, there's facebook.

Anyhow... this post is going to be ULTRA-brief: it's 1:47am and I'm knackered... but I know my mind won't rest well until I share this post with you guys... :)

Actually I was just kidding, this wasn't it - but isn't he cute though??

He was sleeping on Mom's lap when I popped into the room with my camera and starting interrupting his beauty sleep with me flashing away... lol the king of the house does not like to be disturbed.... clearly! You can tell I was bothering him...

No, in truth what I wanted to share with you guys was this: that today, quite possibly... just possibly, I think I made the biggest leap in my walk of life:

.This just came in today.

Yup, you read it right. Need I say more?

I'm happy as a bunny :)

Donc, je vais a Paris et je ferai beaucoup du gateaux et du pains!

La quête pour les chocolats

Just taking one snippet of a bite from Dad's chocolat bombe gateau in Paris was enough to propel me into a quest to create my very own concocted chocolate. Yup, this is when you now know that officially you've crossed the border into obessession! How insane is that??

Returning from the trip, my days were sacrificed in research for chocolate and all possible flavour-combinations: lavender? speculoos? cinnamon? chilli? basil? I was in full-gear, fueled by my recent discoveries in Paris. Oh, the fun!

Truth be told, playing with chocolate was an idea that's been boggling my mind for a while. It wasn't until now that I've given it ago and I have to say that I abso-friggin-lutely love it! I wish I had the courage to give it a go sooner. I had so much fun creating these babies... and I plan to do more!

When it came to making the little chocolates, I wanted to create my own mini-version of what I had tasted at Fouquet's cafe in Paris. So.... being miss-indecisive-of-what-i-want, I created a list of all the things I wanted to achieve in the chocolates themselves:

* I wanted to use dark chocolate but I didn't want it to be too dark. Mainly because I wanted to avoid the overwhelming, bitter taste of the cacao. Personally when it comes to chocolates, I opt for dark chocolate because I think it's a good "vehicle" for flavours. Dark chocolate carries them well because it's not sweet.
* Most importantly, I didn't want to chocolate to be sweet: some people have this automatic (and irritating) belief that chocolate = sweet.... when in fact, it's NOT*!

*just depends on the amount of cacao the chocolate has. Anything above 60% falls under dark chocolate (....I think, please don't quote me on that!)

* Lastly: I also wanted to play with the textures in chocolate: just like at Fouquet's, I wanted the chocolate to be light in taste and airy in texture with a crunch or snap to it (NOTE: this proved difficult! why oh why am I making life harder for myself?)

L’expérience de chocolat

So what have I done?
I created earl-grey chocolate mousse with a torte base, all encased in dark chocolate.

the two most difficult steps:
1. Infusing & Steeping the desired flavour






2. (quite possibly the MOST important step) Tempering chocolate

Whoever said patisserie doesn't involve science,
clearly hasn't played with chocolates yet.

If you're chocolate-obsessed like me or have done some chocolatier-ing work before, then chances are you know what tempering is. Basic explanation is this: tempering is a heating-cooling method used to achieve the professional-quality look and feel of a chocolate bar.

Professional-quality: smooth and clean finish with a nice glossy sheen on the surface of the chocolate. When broken or bitten into, you can actually get a proper snap from the chocolate.

As you can see from this photo, the tempered chocolate yields a smooth and ultra-glossy finish.
Beau.ti.ful.

Aside from look and feel, tempered chocolate gives a more desirable quality to work with: the chocolates don't bloom (the whitish deposits you get on the surface of the chocolates, note: chocolate would still be safely edible... just not desirable to look at) as much and best of all, when handled with fingers, they don't melt as easily as improperly tempered chocolate.

Especially when it comes to molding chocolates, tempered chocolates are god-sent! They release from their molds easily due to their desired smooth finish. So BIG TIP: if you're planning on dipping chocolates, molding chocolates or creating truffles... then temper your chocolates!

What does tempering do? Tempering allows the crystals in chocolate to be distributed and suspended evenly throughout the final product. Correctly tempered chocolate will yield a bright, crisp, and shiny chocolate, while incorrectly tempered chocolate will produce results that are streaky and dull. Help on tempering chocolates are here.

It's a whole lot of work but trust me, the end product is worth the effort. Oh...and another tip: as always with other forms of baking, ALWAYS use the best ingredients available even though it's $1 or $2 more: best ingredients always cost more. Personally for me, i would rather buy a good quality chocolate instead of your $0.50 chocolates over at the tuck-shop.

In plain english: don't bother making chocolate truffles if you're just going to use generic-brand creme. Why? Because you're risking flavour.

Seriously? what's the point of baking a cake if your butter doesn't taste like butter, it's like using kid's art glue to fix a broken toy?

Enough said.

Chocolat Oh Chocolat

Inspired by Paris:
Chocolat Noir filled with Earl Grey-Chocolate Mousse

my take on the Patisserie du Maison Dad got at Fouquet's... only bite-sized




Secretly, I think I'm dying to become a chocolatier!

Je n'suis qu'un soulman...

Paris:

the city of love.
the city of french baguettes, french poodles* and the Eiffel Tower.

*Truth be told, I didn't see ANY french poodles in Paris :)

Definitely a city that should be in your "TOP 10 CITIES TO VISIT-before-I-grow-saggy-tits-and-flabby-skins" list. I've been fortunate enough to have visited this beautiful city twice and both times: a completely different and new experience.

A few years ago, if I went to Paris and spoke English I would be subject to blatant rudeness and outright rejection. I remember that there was even a time where a ticket person for the Eiffel Tower refused to sell us tickets because we didn't speak french! Nonchalantly, she just shut her till, moved to a new cashier and opened shop there... yup, you read right!

Now it's been 5 years since my day as a young high school student and things have absolutely changed: waiters and salespersons speak english, they don't even get touchy* when you tell them that you don't speak their language. Once in a while though, do expect a rude wakening... 5 years isn't really a long time...

*When I say touchy, I mean: the "OH-MY-GOD! YOU VILE THING" expression on their faces when you say that forbidden statement "sorry, I don't speak french"

As for me, I absolutely adored it: the language, the shopping, the SALE, the food (PASTRY!!), every-single-friggin-thing!! Even down to the typical commercialised tourism you get when you go to the ever popular touristy places. Why? Simply because there's always something to experience!

.Sidewalks packed with illegal immigrants selling goods, among them: key chains, eiffel tower replicas,
even grilled corn cooked from a huge dented paint tins atop of a stolen shopping cart.

In this particular trip, I was amused by the sights of illegal immigrants hoarding the sidewalks of the Eiffel tower, selling pre-made souvenirs for easy cash. I thought it was odd because all these items were placed on top of square rags with ropes tied tightly to the corners. It wasn't long until I found out why: a policeman came walking by to help a small lost child and immediately, these sellers were on the get-ready-to-scram pose with the corners of the rags all scooped up to make an easy get away carrier for their items... just in case the police turned to chase after them.

Amusingly odd, no?

During my trip to Paris, the one thing I've noticed was the sudden popular growth of macarons!! Oh man! I've tried making these at home and je detest, absolutement. It was most definitely the most challenging thing I've tried to make in the kitchen.

Then I came across this cafe...

Oh. My. God.

Macaron-pornography to the max! I dream to work in a place like this! While dad and l'oncle 'brahim went to check out some guy tech-stuff, mom and I decided to go for a sneaky quick trip into the boutique store... the queue inside was INSANE! Small macarons were sold for 3 or 5 euros each whilst the big ones were 8euros (I think?) Crazy right?! They have an immense collection of macarons, you can check out what they offer here: LaDuree.

I managed to sneak in a quick photo before being politely told off by one of the staff and I mumbled my apologies in french. hehehe. I couldn't resist! I think the cafe was gorgeous!!

I've tried a few macarons back when I was in Brunei from Fleur-de-lys but I have to say, I was quite put off by the whole thing due to its tooth-aching sweetness. And no wonder why, if you look up the recipe for it, the icing sugar used is super-duper insane! Paris was a pleasant surprise because when I tried to macarons here, they were to-die-for: texture, taste, smell... everything and the best part is: they weren't sweet at all!!

.When in Rome do as the Romans do, so when in Paris.... : At Fouquet's "

.the price definitely reflects the quality of your coffee: are you willing to pay 9euros for coffee? :).

They say: when in rome, do as the romans do... so now that we were in Paris... what else was to be done but go for a nice coffee? :) Dad ordered the patisserie du maison and boy, oh, boy was that one heck of a dessert! I love how the french make their desserts without it being overwhelming sweet...

.cafe viennois: coffee with whipped cream.
.la patisserie du maison: gateau bombe au chocolat.

The quick weekend trip to Paris was refreshing and I was inspired to create something in the kitchen. Parisian-inspired cupcake? I wonder how that would go in terms of flavours and designs. Any thoughts?

I have yet to figure out what Parisian-inspired cupcake I can come up with... until then, I've been busying myself with french chocolates! Particularly inspired by the bombe au chocolat Dad ordered from one of the cafes... when I got back, I decided on making my own version! More on this on the next post! :)

Parisian Subway

Parisian Subway

Lights flickering and flashing. Blinding for some folks.
Metal wheels churning and screeching on the tracks.
Steel-mechanised doors and subway carts rattle and slam against one another.
People of various shapes, sizes and styles cling onto the metal bars for dear life,
Feet plant firmly on the ground as they fight inertia to keep their balance.

Eyes dart back and forth, up, down and sideways so as not to blatantly stare.
Sadly, some folks try to blend in as one of the parisians... unsuccessfully,
their garments silently advertising "TOURISTS!!!", while the true parisians are non-chalant:
earphones plunged deeply into their ear canals, not giving a hoot of those around them.

Amongst this all, an accordian musical wrings out into the crammed unsavoury atmosphere.
Once, twice, thrice - an incoherent mumbling tries to pass of as singing.
French buskers, perhaps?
Tin cans occasionally jiggle for some extra change.
Eyes then just avert to other directions - clearly no one gives a toot.


J'adore. Absolutement, j'adore. Cette une ville incroyable. Despite some of the ugliness, it's still beautiful and I would very much like to drown myself in its entirety.

Cafe viennois, Cafe latte, Lait russe, Cafe au creme, Cappucino...

I forget that by now half of the world is already asleep soundly on their beds. A little more than a few minutes ago I was so engrossed with doing some paperwork, time absolutely dissolved around me... until I walked out of my room and was greeted by the deafening silence in the house... even ceasar was not there!

If I've never ever given you guys a helpful tip, here's one: never ever make tiramisu on the night before giving it away (and when I say tiramisu, i'm talking about the REAL italian dessert, not the tooth-achingly sweet and super-duper creamy cheese-y variety you get in Brunei). Sooo.....if you're keen to make fresh tiramisu (because it requires the use of raw eggs), make it on the afternoon before the day you serve it to give it ample time to rest - bearing in mind you have to do a little taste test as well. This probably, no, actually this definitely will explain why I'm still up like a night owl: the hardcore espresso I used to dip the ladyfinger biscuits...

Et voila! It doesn't really take a PHD to figure that out... but in my case, I forgot about doing the taste-testing until AFTER i made the whole thing and started to make my daily-help-me-sleep-evening-tea. HAH! And I can still smell the lingering seductive aroma of the espresso on the tips of my fingers... like that's going to help me sleep!

It's ok... time to reminisce on my brief but abso-friggin-lutely beautiful weekend in Paris!! J'adore! Absolutement! Before, back in my younger days, I used to be so hesitant about going to Paris mainly because of the language barrier but now... ever since I started taking the french classes I've grown to LOVE IT!