Love in The Kitchen Cooking Workshop - Beef & Parma Ham Pastry, Key Lime Pie, Baked Egg with Smoked Ham and Toasted Nuts

I prefer a hands-on, rather then a demo class, when it comes to a cooking workshop, and the instructor that day was nice enough to let us do some frying!

We made a Key Lime Pie, Baked Egg with Smoked Ham and Toasted Nuts, and Canon of Beef Wrapped in Parma Ham and Baked with Puff Pastry and Black Currant Sauce.

KEY LIME PIE

Crust made with digestive biscuits, crushed till fine in a food processor, and mixed with melted butter till it's the consistency of wet sand. Spoon the mixture into a greased tart tin and shape over the base and sides, pressing the crumbs firmly to form an even layer. Bake for 10 minutes in a 180 degrees pre-heated oven, or till golden brown.



Grating lime peel and squeezing lime juice! You'd need 8-10 limes, yielding 80-100ml of juice.


After sieving out the seeds, combine the juice and zest with 2 egg yolks, 390ml of condensed milk and 300ml of double cream. Whisk till the mixture thickens.


Fill the center of the cooked biscuit with the mixture and bake for 15-20 minutes till the filling has set on the outside but quivery in the middle. Cool completely before chilling overnight or at least 4 hours in the refrigerator. Sprinkle lime zest on top before serving.


BAKED EGG WITH SMOKED HAM AND TOASTED NUTS

Brush four 6cm deep ramekins with softened butter. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Scoop some diced smoked ham into each ramekin and tip an egg in. Spoon 1 tbsp of double cream around the egg yolk. Place the ramekins into a roasting pan filled with water till it comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins, and bake for 10 minutes in an oven pre-heated to 170 degrees, till the egg whites have just set and the yolks still runny. You may like to sprinkle some lightly crushed toasted nuts on top before serving.



CANON OF BEEF WRAPPED IN PARMA HAM AND BAKED IN PUFF PASTRY, SERVED WITH BLACK CURRANT SAUCE

This dish was by far, my favourite! You would need four 110g of log-shaped beef, preferably tenderloin. Sear the beef on all sides, in a very hot frying pan that has been oiled, and set aside to cool. Beef should be uncooked on the inside but slightly burnt on all sides. Absorb excess oil and blood with a kitchen towel so that pastry will not end up soggy.



Roll each portion of beef tightly with parma ham. Cut pre-made pastry to size, and roll it around the beef and ham. Brush a layer of egg wash over the pastry and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Lightly grease a baking tray and place it in an oven pre-heated at 180 degrees, for 10 minutes. Transfer the beef onto the tray and bake for 15-20 minutes. Chexk for doneness at the 10 minute mark, and lower the temperature should the pastry become too brown.


Let the beef en croute rest for 5 minutes before drizzling blackcurrant sauce on top and serving it with vegetables.

Making Doenjjang Jiggae (Korean Soybean Paste Soup) Workshop

So I attended yet another Korean cooking class this week, and this time, we made yummy Doenjjang Jiggae. This is my first time making it, or even eating it, and I almost mistook it for Kimchi Jiggae at first glance.

For the soup base, you would need a huge handful of anchovies and some dried kelp.


A large tablespoon of Korean chilli paste and Korean soybean paste, and a tablespoon of chopped garlic, or to taste. Some prefer a more spicy and salty soup.


When the soup starts to boil, add in your potato squares (you can quarter them if you like, but you need to let them cook for a longer time till they're soft), chopped onions, and clams. When they're halfway done, add in the chopped zucchini pieces.


When the potatoes are almost done, add in the tofu (the harder variety so they won't fall apart that easily when cooking), prawns, mushrooms, red and green chillies, and finally the spring onions. Cook for a further 3-4 minutes.



And you're done!


Here's the receipe from Nicky Kim. She conducts private classes too, or you could gather some of your friends for a group lesson. Happy cooking!

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Stila Light Up The World Palette Eye Shadow

The Stila Light Up The World Eye Shadow Palette comes in a sleek black rectangular plastic case with a flip top. There is no mirror but a double-sided brush is provided. You get a palette of 10 colors, mostly purples and bronzes, making a total of 13.5g. Mine unfortunately, got a little smashed in transit.




I find the colors rather pigmented and staying power moderate to good. From left to right, you have sugar, light, peaceful, bronze, dawn, precious, demure, delicate, sangria and truffle.


Included in the box is a little booklet with an inspirational quote by owner, Lynn Tilton, and a guide on how to achieve four different looks with the palette.


Here's look number 1, using the colors light, bronze and truffle.

Soups, Sandwiches and Wraps @ The Soup Spoon

Beef Goulash is my favourite. It is lightly spiced with paprika and has chunks of beef and vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, tomatoes and celery in it. I like it for the slightly sourish and spicy flavour.

The Tokyo Chicken Stew comes in second in my list of favourites. I love soups that have a bit of everything in them, and the Tokyo Chicken Stew has lotus root, shitake and enoki mushrooms, carrots and bamboo shoots in it. The chicken is supposedly marinated in teriyaki and simmered in a broth of sake and mirin, but I really wouldn't have guessed.

The Velvety Mushroom Stroganoff comes in third just because stirring hot Campbells mushroom soup over the stove late at night is a pleasant childhood memory. This has generous bits of mushroom in it, and they are big enough to make chewing your soup a satisfying experience. Not one of those lousy soups which leave you wondering if you are merely downing a bowl of unhealthy starch but yes, you can taste the starch.

The Simon and Garfunkel Chicken and Mushroom Ragout isn't bad either. It has marinated chunks of chicken cooked with six types of mushrooms, namely, portobello, oyster, abalone, enoki, shitake, and button mushroom. Flavoured with sage to ease indigestion, rosemary to reduce inflammation, thyme as an expectorant, and parsley as a power anti-oxidant.


The Boston Clam Chowder on the other hand, is the kind of starchy soup that I hate. I won't be having it again, even though they were rather generous with the clams. I think I spied only potatoes and celery in the chowder.


Peace, Love and Muscles Chowder (soup special) was a major disappointment. The picture on the poster showed that it had a generous serving of whole New Zealand Green Shell Mussels, but the bowl of soup that was served to us probably had only ONE mussel that was chopped so finely, I could barely taste it. There is also sweet potato, russet potato, celery, spinach, fennel and bacon in the soup.



We almost always order a set meal which comes with either a choice of a half wrap or sandwich. The boy loves his Chicken Mushroom Wrap and Roast Duck Wrap.

Chicken Mushroom Wrap
(Chicken Breast, Mushroom, Cheddar Cheese, Romaine Lettuce, Tomato, Cucumber, Caesar Salad Dressing)

Roast Duck Wrap
(Roast Duck, Cucumber, Tomato, Romaine Lettuce)


I would always have either the Herbed Chicken Caesar Sandwich or the Roast Beef Wasabi Sandwich. The chicken is tender, the beef is thinly sliced and the taste of wasabi is very slight.

Herbed Chicken Caesar Sandwich
(Rosemary Chicken, Onion, Cucumber, Romaine Lettuce, Tomato, Caesar Dressing)

Roast Beef Wasabi Sandwich
(Roast Beef, Red Onion, Gherkins, Cheddar Cheese, Green Salad, Wasabi Mayo)

Bits from the Singapore Art Museum Open House

A preview of Elephant Parade Singapore 2011, the largest open-air exhibition in the world dedicated to saving the Asian elephant, which will run from 11 November to 11 January 2012. The exhibition will feature over 100 life sized elephants, painted and decorated by celebrities and artists, and these will dot the streets of Singapore. Following the exhibition will be an auction of baby art elephants, with part of the proceeds going to the The Asian Elephant Foundation and Wildlife Reserves Singapore Conservation Fund.

Elephant At Rest, 2011, fibreglass sculpture.


Did you guess that the elephant is decorated with floral stickers?



From Liu Kang: A Centennial Celebration. Runs till 16 October 2011.


Samsui Women, 1951
Samsui women, immigrants from China, working as construction workers and distinguished by their red headpiece.


Chin Nam Street, 1951
Featuring the beautiful blue dome of the Old Supreme Court in the background.


From Seeing the Kites Again, an exhibition inspired by Wu Guanzhong’s metaphor of a kite and how it expresses the connection between an artist, his life and the people around him. Runs through 12 November 2012.

A Grasshopper Boat, 1998, oil on canvas.


White Flowers, 1993, oil on canvas.


Detail from The Mountain of Flowers and Fruits, 1960, oil on canvas.


Detail from Like Grass Like Flowers Like Fruits, 1988, ink and color on paper.


There was also a screening of specially selected animated films sourced from all over the world, at the dark and cosy air-conditioned chapel, Level 2. It ended its run on 30 August 2011.


Our favourite has got to be the sweet friendship between a little boy and a penguin in Lost and Found, a 24-min adaption of the best-selling picture book by Oliver Jeffers, directed by Philip Hunt.


The chapel wasn't crowded and it felt like a first movie date, as the boy and I sat on the long school benches, and giggled and ooh-ed at the funny and touching moments in the film.

Night Lights Festival 2011 @ the Singapore Art Museum

We went down to the Singapore Art Museum last Friday, as the boy wanted to see what the Voyage Night Festival 2011 was all about. It was basically a nine-evening outdoor showcase of spectacular light installations from France, with a flea market, film screenings, Parisian club party, media installations and exhibitions.


Lyrical Perspective ((Perspective Lyrique) was in my opinion, the most interesting piece of art. It is a visual projection which includes public interaction, whereby voices distort the SAM façade.





The Cloud (Le Nuage) is a color changing apparition projected onto the facade at SAM.



Lampounettes was inspired by the world-renowned architect lamp. It illuminates and renews the experience of walking through the street, offering the possibility of experiencing public spaces in a new light. I thought the lady sitting beneath the lamp was a nice touch. I almost expected her to get up and start belting out 'Memory'.


In Curiositiés, architect Alain Benini transforms the SAM courtyard into a dwelling for luminous jellyfish, creating an imaginary realm. Doesn't it look dreamy?


I thought that Reactive Wall, a collaboration between artist Mojoko and computer programmer Shang Liang, was rather silly though. The piece showcases over 200 images of popular local and graphic icons that have become a familiar part of our lives. By making sounds, visitors are able to affect the movement of the icons.


You can see people shouting and screaming and making a fool of themselves here.



There was also a small flea market at Q8 which I did not enter, since it looked hot and crowded.



On the way there, my attention was captured by the very interesting graffati wall outside dbl O. We drove past earlier in the week and saw them in action, but had no idea then, that it was the Wall Lords Singapore 2011 competition.


Now I'm wondering where to catch the Mid-Autumn Festival light-up this year. The last one I had been to was the F8-Hello Kitty Go Races! Lantern Fantasy 2008 at the Chinese Garden which I enjoyed immensely:)