2017 Weekly - Week 34

22/08/2017

I came over this speech by Anna Wintour given at the Oxford Union in 2015. Thought provoking and still rings true which age you may be.

She talked about "being intellectually free". Many times the only real limitation is ourselves in life. Be prepared to learn and adapt. You never know what you are going to find and feel around the corner of unknown. She also said that "the more you do, the more you can do". It feels so close to my heart, professionally and outside work. I have tried things I thought I wouldn't like it or couldn't do it but many times I proved myself wrong. And by challenging myself it makes me truly feel what being alive means. Having no passion or interest in life must be one of the saddest things which could happen to one person. I hope this moment would never come.

I make - Yorkshire pudding

Being in the country of Yorkshire pudding for 16 years, the number of times I eat Yorkshire pudding can be counted in one hand. Still quite perplexed with all the fuss around Yorkshire pudding but I get the fact that it's a British (family/culinary) tradition. So everyone gets a say and has a particular way of doing it. And in order to proclaim convincingly that I've been in the land of YP long enough, today is my first go at YP.

I used and halved the recipe by Barney Desmazery. Well, my first go at the recipe led to YP of various shapes and sizes. The baked product is light, crisp on the outside and tender inside. Luckily the look bears no resemblance of the taste. I wished the recipe could have been clearer about the amount of oil required in the muffin tin. It turned out that during baking YP doesn't really absorb much oil (a good thing). However, the YP batter does push the oil out of the muffin oil during baking (which led to our lovely smoke alarm going off during Sunday morning and the next hour me scrubbing the oven!). Granted, I covered the bottom of muffin tin with oil to avoid sticking and this proved too much for YP. It seems that next time no more than 1/4 tsp oil for each muffin hole.

(Next time will be better) Yorkshire pudding

- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup (70g) of plain flour
- 100 ml cold milk
- pinch of salt
- oil for cooking

Thoroughly mix eggs, flour, milk and salt in a jug. Rest the batter in the fridge for a few hours.

Preheat the oven at 210C. Put 1/4 tsp of oil in each of the muffin holes. Place the muffin tin on a baking tray and heat the oil for at least 10 minutes.

Remove the tray from the oven, pour the chilled batter into the muffin holes as quickly as you can. I managed to fill 9 of the 12 holes with the written recipe. Put the tray and muffin tin back to the oven. Bake for 20 minutes, with oven door firmly shut. Serve immediately or freeze for later.

2017 Weekly - Week 33

14/08/2017

No one at work will give me a pat on the back but I will do that to myself and say "Well Done, another computational model confirmed by experiments". Sometimes I often think the eco system inside research or pharma is exactly what you see in the society. Many don't understand that science can only truly progress when all disciplines treat each other equal and work together. One who ignores others can only stall science progress.

16/08/2017

A colleague gave me some fresh bread yeast to try. I made Michel Roux Jr's sandwich loaf. Don't know whether it's the recipe or the fresh yeast but this is the best sandwich loaf I've ever made.

I bake - Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies

Some moments only chocolate chip cookies will do. You know what it is, the moment when your guests finally leave (no matter how nice they are), the day when everything goes wrong (no matter how minute and insignificant they are), the second that you discover the colleague who always appears nice knife you in the back. When that moment comes, here is one of the best cures I've found.

Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies - adapted from Danielle Oron's original and David Libovitz's tweak

1/2 cup (110 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup (120 ml) tahini, well stirred

1/2  cup (100 g) granulated sugar

1/2  cup (90 g) packed light brown sugar

2 medium eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

150 g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp table salt

200 g dark chocolate chunks (at least 60% cocoa)

flaky sea salt,  such as Maldon or fleur de sel

In a large bowl, use a hand-mixer to beat the butter, tahini, granulated sugar and brown sugar on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until fluffy.

Add in one egg and vanilla, beat until well incorporated before adding the remaining egg. Beat to mix. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides if necessary.

Tip into the butter mixture the flour, baking powder, and table salt. Mix together with the mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop the motor and switch to a rubber spatula, add the chocolate chunks and stir until just combined. Cookies can be baked straightaway but the author recommends resting the covered dough overnight (or at least a few hours) in the fridge. 

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

Form the cookie dough into rounds using an ice cream scoop, or your hands. I like the golf ball size (I managed to get 18 cookies). Place them evenly spaced on the baking sheets, at least 5cm apart. There is no need to flatten them as the dough spreads a bit during baking.

Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time. Turning the baking sheet in the oven midway during baking, until the cookies are golden brown around the edges but still pale in the center. I bake mine for 12 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle cookies with a bit of flaky sea salt, and let the cookies cool on the baking sheet. Bake the remaining cookies the same way.

2017 Weekly - Week 32

We are still with guests this week. One thing, it's nice to be reconnected with some family members.

As for the teenager, well, intelligent, deep down a good person but quite spoiled and lack of maturity, rather a picky eater which drove me nuts. I wish all the best for the teenager.

I also realized that two weeks is too long for me to have guests at home. Next time, no more than a week.

Party of five 05/0/2017

Who

Me, resident food critic, 18-yr old nephew and our English neighbours

Starter

Halloumi, courgette and cherry tomato skewers
Crudites with Aubergine dip

Cheese straws

Pimm's

Main

Chicken confit
Potato mash
garlicky sugar snap peas and tender broccoli stems

Cheese course

Dessert

Eton mess with strawberries and raspberries

2017 Weekly - Week 31

There won't be much update from here for two weeks as we have a visitor coming to stay. I hope you have a good summer.