à la française: Home-Cooked French Cuisine - Week 3

Amazingly enough, I'm still going strong with this little weekly French dish project of mine. ;p Though I definitely feel myself gradually facing an uphill challenge because a lot of the ingredients for the quintessentially French dishes in Rachel Khoo's cookbook aren't readily available here. Either they are nowhere to be found, or if I do chance upon them in a more upscale grocery store, it's probably going to be pretty darn expensive. As a result, I've tended to pick more of the recipes for baked dishes (desserts/tarts/cakes etc) since they're much more manageable for me. 

So there were a number of reasons that led me to try the recipe for this Quiche Lorraine (Bacon and Egg tart). Firstly, earlier in the week, I had really wanted to bake a lemon tart in order to use up ALL THAT LEMON CURD which I had made for the Madeleines. (The actual amount of lemon curd used to decorate the Madeleines in that recipe was miniscule. I still, in fact, have a good jar and a half worth of lemon curd in the fridge up till now.) So I turned to this recipe of Jamie Oliver's for a nice tart base over which I figured I could simply pour my lemon curd onto. The tart came out fantastic. In fact, I had so much tart batter that I ended up making some of these mini lemon tarts late one night. :D 

(Recipe for the tart is the Jamie Oliver one. Recipe for lemon curd is the one in Rachel Khoo's recipe for her Madeleines)

These turned out well and were completely unplanned! Only problem was, my mum (who is the one reliable eater in the family, never mind that she consumes things literally at a snail's pace) didn't want so much lemon curd on the tart base. :( So there was no point in me making a whole lemon curd pie anyway.

(PSST. If you're making these lemon tarts, be sure to only put in the lemon curd if you want to eat it right then and there/ serve it to guests on the spot! I figured it out the hard way after piping all that lemon curd into the tarts, that it would be impossible to heat it up the next day to have it nice and warm without melting all the curd. -___-)

With all that leftover tart base, I decided to try incorporating it into the Quiche recipe. This recipe was a real mish mash, because I also made use of a recipe for a 'crustless mini Quiche' from Pure Green Magazine.



So incase you wanna know the ingredients I eventually ended up dumping in to make the filling (because the second recipe had more greens in it):

1. 4 eggs plus 2 egg yolks 
2. 150g of bacon (pan-fried) (I really couldn't bare to use lardons) 
3. 1/4 cup green onions, chopped 
4.1/2 cup baby spinach, shredded 
5.1 1/2 cup button mushrooms, sliced 
6. 1/2 cup red peppers, diced 
7. 1/2 cup chedder, shreded 
8. 1/4 tsp salt 
9. 1/2 tsp cracked pepper

The recipe was pretty simple. :) For the filling, it was basically mixing all the ingredients together after the initial whisking of the eggs. After which, the mixture was spooned evenly onto the tart base on the tin, and baked for about... 25 minutes I think. (Longer because I had to bake the tart as well)



It actually turned out pretty decent. A couple of learning points though:

1. It's best not to mix recipes that are so different! >< The second recipe was for a Crustless Quiche which basically meant that it didn't involve baking a separate tart layer at all. The timing was total trial and error and after initially removing the quiche from the oven, I'd only realized that the tart hadn't been completely baked after cutting a slice out. So back into the oven it went. 2. A tart base for a SWEET dessert should not be used as a tart base for a SAVORY dish. That wasn't a huuuuuge mistake because I actually really liked the mild sweetness of the Jamie Oliver tart itself. But combined with the savory ingredients of the rest of the quiche... it didn't quite jive that well. Lesson learnt. ;p



That said, it turned out to be pretty tasty. :D And I think it's always good to just try out recipes to see what aspects of each one I end up liking. All part of the learning process.

Man, that was a little lengthy. But the conclusion is, I think --> Give Jamie Oliver's recipe for the tart base a try! :D It's GOOD STUFF.

Cluny Artbar

An afternoon in Montreal that I'll probably never forget. 
It's also the afternoon I got majorly lost.




Left: Minestrone soup from Cluny ArtBar. 
Right: Passed by a random building on my quest to find the cafe. I do like the forest green color against the backdrop of brick-red. 


 I'd read online about Cluny ArtBar - this great cafe which garnered rave reviews for set lunches and brunches and which also happens to be connected to an exhibition hall that's all part of The Darling Foundry, Visual Arts Centre. I figured it would be an all-in-one afternoon; great lunch at the cafe, followed by a visit to the exhibition that would probably showcase some interesting artwork by contemporary Montreal artists. It's listed online as a popular spot for local office workers which is the perfect statement to make one think that it's probably in the middle of the business district to cater to office workers in the surrounding financial buildings, yes?? WRONG. It was literally in the middle of nowhere (to me at least)! I remember walking alone across deserted parking lots, hearing my footsteps echo resoundingly as my boots crunched into the bits of slush and snow that still covered most of the streets at the time, and traipsing past deserted looking buildings, along silent streets without seeing any other person. I'm sure it wouldn't have been so bad if my data plan hadn't run out that day and I wasn't relying solely on screen captures of the area from the Maps app. I do remember passing by some random guy who was looking at his iPhone and thinking, is he completely lost and referring his Maps app as well?? Looks like I'll never know.



Smoked Salmon sandwich. It was actually pretty average but it was also one of the few things left on their menu at that time. I'd gone on a Friday afternoon at around 3 or so and apparently they'd run out of their usual lunch sets. :( So I probably didn't end up trying whatever they're famous for. (Or so I hope)(So next time I'll give the cafe another shot if I ever go back to Montreal. Which I'm DYING TO DO!)









I think we tend to be a lot more forgiving of ourselves when we're on holiday. Perhaps it has to do with being away from most things in life that define us. Probably also because when we're on vacation we're away from whatever deadlines we tend to be rushing for. And when something goes awry, there's the feeling that so many other things take a toll as a consequence. 

If I get lost when on a holiday however, I'm not so harsh on myself. I take my time, fold my map up and place it into my bag. I take a good, slow look at my surroundings...and take a few more photos. People-watch. And it's all ok. Drifting, or so it's called. Moving along without a plan, taking in whatever Serendipity sends my way. 

xx

LOVES: The Head and The Heart

One of the BEST MOMENTS of my life happened when I was in Montreal. :) YES. I watched The Head and The Heart live in concert at La Tulipe, a gorgeous cozy theater/pub. Seriously, these guys are AMAZING. I first heard their song, Rivers and Roads, on the final episode of Chuck a few months back and since then I've been hooked. I was SO SO STOKED when I found out that they would be performing in Montreal the exact time that I would be there! SIGH. It was an amazing night. :)




Their music is incredible uplifting. It's got a strong acoustic background and really gorgeous, rich harmony from the three lead singers - Chastity, Jonathan and Josiah. Their voices blend sooooo well. Listening to their songs is like bathing in warm buttery chocolate. Can't think of any other description.

Isn't the stage set beautiful? I love how they made use of fairy lights and vines wrapped around the mic-stands. The entire feeling was cozy and personal - as if you'd stepped in someone's backyard for a get-together and a night of good music. 




There was such great energy from that performance. Almost everyone had to stand for about 3 hours (inclusive of the opening band before them) because there were limited seats but it was SO WORTH IT.



And one of the best parts of the performance was when Josiah did a solo for the song, Honey Come Home. :) He mentioned that he wanted to perform it closer to the way he had originally envisioned it when he had first composed it instead of the way it turned out in the album. A really sentimental song.

So there's probably no better way for me to describe this amazing band - just check out their website and videos on Youtube! Here are a few of my favorite songs: 


1. Winter Song (MY FAVORITE!) (I could play it over and over and over again.) (And I always get goosebumps when Jonathan (the second male voice you hear in the song) starts singing. X)

2. Down in The Valley - sweet and soothing, especially with the strains of the violin. 

3. Rivers and Roads - their famous song. The harmonies at the end are so good they give me goosebumps!

 

Whenever I think about Montreal I'll always think of this band as well. It just so happens that I was able to load their songs on to my iPhone so EVERYWHERE I WENT, pounding the streets of Montreal, cycling, being by myself on the metro... I was almost always listening to their songs. :) It's one of those things - when you have a song that you associate with a special experience and moment in time. 

xx

Montreal streetsnaps: St. Denis

One of the streets that I always found myself returning to in Montreal was Boulevard St. Denis (deh-nee). Parallel to St. Laurent, St. Denis is one of the main streets running North-South that are a must-see in Montreal. Chock-a-block full of unique boutiques, restaurants, cafes and brimming with street art around every corner, it's a stretch that's nice to walk down even if all the stores are closed - which was often the case for me. I had a hard time adjusting to the opening hours of the stores in Montreal. When I was there in March and April (I suppose it's considered late Winter/Early Spring for them), most of the stores closed at 6pm early in the week e.g. Mondays to Wednesdays. 6pm!!! I usually finished at the hospital by around 5pm and would rush down to one of the cafes on my list while they were still open, after which I attempted to get some shopping done but almost inevitably, the stores would be closed. So I ended up spending many occasions simply walking down the street, croissant/cupcake in hand, admiring store windows and making a mental note of the stores that I wanted to check out over the weekend. Yeah, major sigh there. 





 

In a way, it's funny how the things are never perfect. One of the things I like about Montreal is how laid-back and relaxed the people are. They know how to enjoy the simple pleasures of life - dinner and drinks after hours with friends, nature in all its abundance, material pleasures, but never overwhelmingly so (unlike certain cities like New York, which reeks of commercialism. But don't get me wrong, that's one of the reasons NYC is my favorite place in the world). But at the same time, while I admire their carefree attitude towards life (and envy it, certainly), a part of me missed the bustle of a city that's on the go 24/7. When I found out that the store that closed the latest was Urban Outfitters and closing hour was 8pm, it took ages for my jaw to come back up off the ground. Where are the shops that close late at night? What do people do after work/after dinner if they don't drink?! That was a question that circled round in my head continuously as I looked with resignation at all the closed shutters at the 'late hour' of... 6.30pm. That said, it's always a matter of compromise. The culture of any place has its pros and cons and I suppose if I were to immerse myself in a place that's a lot more relaxed and laid-back and generally less economically-driven all the time, I would really appreciate how much more sustainable it is for people, physically and mentally.

 

(coat and dress: Ruche, sweater: Sonia Rykiel, boots: Endless.com, necklace: Vamoose)

Not that I really had the opportunity to take outfit shots much, but here was one that my mum managed to help me take when she was still there with me very early on in my stay there. :) Being in such a cold place for 2 months definitely helped me learn a few things about dressing for winter -- 1. You really don't need to pack very much because 2. All you really need is a good coat, good sweater, good thermals. Because apart from those few essentials 3. You're really not going to be wearing very much else. BIG mistake on my part to have brought all my work pants/skirts (what was I thinking; SKIRTS?!) because I ended up just wearing the same thing day after day with minimal variations. 

That said, after all the complaints about the weather, I wish I were over in Montreal now that it's summer. SIGH <3<3<3 

à la française: Home-cooked French Cuisine - Week 2

It's more like Week 4 now rather than Week 2 since I've started my little French cooking project. But I'm glad to say that I've managed to keep on track with at least one French dish a week! I'm definitely taking advantage of the relatively relaxed schedule that I have now. In a way, it's a form of self-imposed relaxation. I know that I won't be able to have so much free time once the next school year starts...in just about 1 month and a half more so, funny as it may sound, I'm trying my hardest to not really study so much now but rather, just enjoy whatever I free time I have with my hobbies/interests. I'm starting to feel rather anxious though, since a ton of my classmates are busy mugging away in anticipation of not having enough time to revise all the stuff before our finals next year... But the more anxious I feel, I tend to distract myself with other activities. So it's cooking and baking for now. I find it definitely takes my mind off worries. And it helps that most of the time, there's always something good (and edible!) that comes out of it. 


So for Week 2, I decided to bake Madeleines! :) After trying a freshly baked one at the French restaurant, Brasserie Gavroche, a couple of nights back (and it was served fresh from the oven, complimentary! :D), I had such a huge craving for it. Fortunately, it's also a recipe from Rachel Khoo's cookbook. And trust me when I say this, but this recipe is PRETTY DARN PERFECT! The Madeleines came out so well during my very first attempt that when I sunk my teeth into my first hot crispy Madeleine, I was so happy I very NEARLY wanted to cry. That was when I realized, MAN, there's no feeling like creating something so delicious with one's bare hands.




I bought this Madeline tray at Lemon Zest, a baking store at Chip Bee Gardens at Holland Village. In case you're looking to get one too, there are a number of stores that sell it and it was only through trawling through a few stores and calling up some places that I managed to find this out. So apart from Lemon Zest, there's also Shermay's Cooking School , Phoon Huat and ToTT that sell them. It's amazing how there are 3 stores selling baking supplies on the exact same stretch of road at Chip Bee Gardens (Phoon Huat, Shermay's and Lemon Zest). When I went that day though, Phoon Huat had run out of them (good to call whichever location you're interested in going to beforehand) and the one being sold at Shermay's was a good $10 more expensive than the one at Lemon Zest. So while it was still a little pricey, I figured, this is a pretty good investment since it's something I can bake on numerous occasions. :) And from the way things have turned out, I'm definitely going to be doing so!
  



A trick I learnt from my dearest grandma from those baking sessions at her place. If you don't have a piping bag, you can always use a large ziplock bag. Fill it with the batter and then snip off a small corner to create the opening. 




Et voilà ! :) The Madeleines actually taste really good with the raspberries. Jobbie, my food connoisseur friend, insists that Madeleines should be eaten plain and should never have any sort of filling (blasphemous!). ;) But I do think the tartness of the raspberries adds so much in terms of flavor to the light buttery taste of the Madeleines. A combination I would definitely recommend. 




And just to show some of the variations that are possible. I did a couple - plain, with raspberry on top, with raspberry AND lemon curd (as was the case in the recipe), and because of a request from my mum, some with blueberries on the top. The blueberries definitely don't really go that well with the Madeleines though, so I'd say stick with raspberries and you can even spread the lemon curd over it to eat. :D Her recipe for lemon curd is EXCELLENT, btw. 




I think in the past 2 weeks, I must've made at least 3 or 4 batches of Madeleines. The batter is incredible easy to make. (I ended up baking a fair bit on a number of midnights, to give my mum something to munch on for supper ;D.) According to the recipe, Rachel Khoo recommends that the batter be refrigerated overnight. But there was one afternoon when I was in too much of a rush so I ended up using the freshly made batter instead. It was definitely a lot more liquid-y but it rose really quickly and actually ended up tasting a lot smoother than the ones made from overnight batter. I think it's because if you leave it overnight, it gets heavier/lumpier and doesn't rise as homogenously. So for my subsequent attempts, I'm just going to do away with the whole refrigeration thing and bake it straight. Best part of all, is that there's a video that shows you how to do the whole thing!

It's really manageable for beginners. :) And I love how it's different from the typical sugar cookies/choc chip cookies that are a dessert staple. Why not learn to make something a little more unique and surprise everyone at parties instead? 
xx

à la française: Home-cooked French Cuisine - Week 1

In the past two weeks, I've thrown myself headfirst into a new hobby - cooking! :D I've never actually done much cooking at all for the most part of growing up but now that I'm really getting on in my mid-20s (gahhhhhh), I figured it's high time I start learning to relish being in the kitchen learning to wield some dangerous tools. 


As you probably know from my previous post, after visiting Paris for a really short period of 6 days recently on my way back from Montreal, I've gotten into a little obsession heightened interest regarding the French culture; specifically what it's like to be a French woman. It's really fascinating to read about their approach to food and their eating habits. One thing I've learnt is that they don't have the habit of snacking - ever. No such thing as idly munching on chips/crackers when bored or in need of some form of stimulation as so many of us often do. Because processed foods/junk foods are merely empty calories. If the quality of the food isn't good, might as well not eat it at all. Instead, if you're hungry, it's better to snack on something simple and healthy (fruits/nuts/fresh bread etc) to tide the hunger temporarily while still keeping a good appetite for the next meal. It's something I've found incredibly helpful in approaching my meals in the day too. When I feel hungry before meals, instead of racing for the nearest edible thing I can find, I try to remind myself that the good, substantial meal will come soon and when I do eventually sit down for the meal, I try to eat a little slower than I did before, allowing for better digestion and appreciation of the food. It's worked most of the time this week, except for dinner just now when I was too hungry and scarfed down a whole bunch of pizza. =X Not a great feeling after. 


But this is a new approach to food I'm learning, so it's always going to take awhile at the beginning. After that rather long preamble, I'm finally going to say what I've been meaning to say, which is -- I've started a little project for myself! A little culinary endeavor - 1 French dish a week, starting with recipes from the incredible British chef, Rachel Khoo's , gorgeous cookbook, The Little Paris Kitchen. I happened to randomly find it in Kinokuniya the other day and it's the most BEAUTIFUL cookbook I've ever had (not that I've had many) or laid my eyes on. The creative direction, the photography, the bits of illustration done by Khoo herself...everything about this cookbook is sheer perfection.

 

So every Saturday, I'm going to be trying out a recipe (at least one!) from this cookbook and while I'm not sure how long exactly this little project is going to last, I sure hope I would have tried at least 15 recipes by the end of the next few months. God knows school is only going to get busier but since the crazy part isn't for a month or two, I'll see how far I can get. 


For Week 1, I managed to cook two dishes! :D Just because I happened to have some time last week and wayyy excited about embarking on it. They are
1. Ratatouille
2. Poulet aux champignons avec une sauce au vin blanc 
(Which really just means Chicken and Mushrooms in a white wine sauce. :D Sounds way cooler in French, non?)

I suppose I chose to attempt Ratatouille because it's a veggie dish and I'm a huge fan of veggies. Plus, it looks pretty simple, mainly just a huge mixture of all sorts of veggies stewed together. AND, it was also featured in movie of the same name starring the cutest Rat ever, Remi. :) 

I LOVE the riot of colors of fresh vegetables. Capsicums (tri-colored) are probably my favorite veggies to see and handle. 

Left: One of my favorite smells? Garlic and Onion frying in olive oil. MMMMMM. 

Right: LOTS of tomatoes were required for this dish. 

It basically involved tossing all the cut up veggies into a large roasting tin to bake in the oven for about an hour. 

Et voilà! :D Really a good dish to start off with for beginners, I feel. The only thing was that it really came out kind of soft and boggy, probably because of all the juices from the tomatoes (mainly) and the other veggies mixed together. I wonder if I should try to take out some of the tomato pulp/seeds next time to reduce the water content before it goes into the oven? It's nice when there's a bit of sogginess to it but for my first attempt it was a little too soggy for my liking. What happened to the crunchiness of the capsicums and zucchini?

This basically is enough to feed around 5 people as a main course veg or starter veg for lunch. 

The next dish was the Chicken and Mushroom in White Wine Sauce. :D I actually REALLY liked how this one turned out! I'm usually not a fan of cream-based sauces but this one was pretty good. Plus, since I'm the chef, I'll be able to tweak the recipe to my liking the next round and add in a little less cooking cream. The reason it's so tasty is probably because of all that butter that went into the sauce. MMM. Only problem with this dish was that my sauce turned out a more PASTY and less SAUCE-like than expected. Probably because I was distracted and let the sauce bubble up too much. Am started to figure out the whole, "if you want it to thicken up, let it boil more, and if you want it to be more liquid, add more chicken stock" thing. :)
 

So Week 1's dishes were pretty successful. I ended up eating the Ratatouille for pretty much the entire week though. O_o But it's good, because at least I get to bring home cooked food for lunch every day at the hospital. I learnt from a student in Montreal who told me that every Sunday night she cooks a huge load of pasta and keeps it in the fridge to reheat at lunch the entire week. It's such a money-saving idea too! :) It IS a little more troublesome to have to keep heading to the pantry to use the microwave while everyone else is already off buying lunch... but I think it's a worthwhile habit to continue. Here's a little video clip of Rachel Khoo's cooking show! :D I'm in love with it. If you love food, colors, beauty, French cuisine, Paris... you're going to love this show. It's got so many elements of perfection. Let me know if you watch/have tried her recipes/have any tips! :D

 

xoxo

The Mont Royal trek

One of the must-dos when in Montreal would be a climb up their beloved mountain, Mont Royal. According to the tour guide of the bicycle tour that I was on, Montrealers revere their mountain so much that they will take great offense if you refer to it as a 'hill'. ;) While it's not that bad a climb and quite manageable for people of all ages, I still got pretty winded 3/4 of the way up. And I blame it on both my dismal fitness level and that fact that winterboots and winterwear is just plain heavy and makes climbing a lot harder. So this was in early March when the streets were covered in snow and the temperature hovered around 0 degrees Celsius daily.

When I saw this, I couldn't help but think - humans are innately masochistic. Who the hell would do this to themselves?? And then I ended up climbed on. (But at least I'm not as crazy as those guys in their sneakers running up and down the stairs/the Mountain.)

I think whenever I'm halfway up SOMETHING e.g. a flight of stairs leading to a supposed fantastic view from the top of a building/monument e.g. Arc de Triomphe in Paris/ Eiffel Tower) I always question my intentions angrily, all the while gasping for air with aching thighs. But then the minute I reach the peak and receive the view that spreads on out to the horizon in its infinite beauty... there's no doubt that it was all worth it.

Here's my favorite shot of the city below. Going at dusk is probably the prettiest time. (Mont Royal, March 2012) 

And just a bit of trivia - Montreal derived its name from the name of the mountain, Mont Royal, (Hint: say it fast and French-like) which was so named by the French explorer, Jacques Cartier in 1535. 

-- 
I miss miss miss Montreal so much! Especially now that the weather in SG has just gotten excruciatingly oven-like. -_-;; And to think that when I was there I sort of craved the state of not feeling cold immediately after leaving the bathroom after a hot shower. All these little things that we either love/hate depending on the circumstances.