The Serial-Blogger Who Never Blogs

Fine. I'll admit it: I am probably the laziest blogger in the entire world...who doesn't give up on blogging. I assume most people who blog, blog frequently and those who only blog once in several many full moons (ahem, like myself) would just give up on blogging all together, admit defeat and realise that it was a lost cause. Nope, not me. I pop by every so often to reassure myself that I am not a give-upper and that I do care about all my blog-babies. (Thank goodness, these blogs aren't real children.)

Just had my 20-something-th birthday this weekend and it is time to turn over yet another new leaf. I am aware that I begin to run out of leaves to turn but this year is a year of optimism. I feel it. It is in the air. I am setting realistic, achievable goals for myself from now on. It is time to be a real adult and accomplish what I set out to do. The goal is ...drumroll please... to blog at least once a week. I will be working 40 to 50-hour weeks in a restaurant, taking on random clusters of 10 to 14-hour shifts. I am most certain that I will have something to discover and share about the food and beverage industry on a weekly basis. :)

Recently I discovered Michael Ruhlman's ratio chart of doughs and batters. Chow.com did a Q&A with Mr. Ruhlman back in 2009 (which was when the book was published) and he oh-so-graciously allowed them to publish the chart online. I can only assume that it's a snippet of what is in his full-sized work Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking. It is interesting to think of cooking and baking in such a rational way. As he also mentioned in the interview, I see how it can be helpful to beginners out there, mostly in reducing the stress of getting things 'just right' in the kitchen. In essentials, I agree. If the dough doesn't work out, instead of worrying about the more technical aspects like room temperature or the way you might be kneading the dough for example, it is much easier for newcomers to fiddle with their flour-to-water ratio. Even a skilled baker will concur that ratio is not something you can mess up, though chefs might have different things to say about it, especially ones who like that creative flair in the kitchen.

Just for good measure though, I will print it out and tack in on a wall in my kitchen as a reassurance that if anything fails, it is not me but how I am reading my cooking scale. The next time I'm in a book store, I will see what other formulae Mr. Ruhlman put in the rest of his book.

Le Fromage Bleu

Zak left some blue cheese in my fridge last night and then fled to Cambridge. Now what? I am not a big fan of the smelly cheese but I cannot possibly throw it out - I will never hear the end of it - "How could you? Blue Cheese is my favourite!!!" Ok, everyone, settle down. The most obvious solution: look up a recipe that I can discreetly sneak the blue cheese into yet somehow still practice working on the pastry dough challenge.


So as I greedily stuffed myself with leftovers scavenged from the refrigerator (a slice of spinach & cheese quiche with a side of beef stew in red tomato sauce),

I began blogging and searching for the ultimate blue cheese recipe. Then I found this: Almond Blue Cheese Fritters. Blue cheese, check. Pastry dough, check. Almonds, check. It's going to be deep-fried and crispy, check and check. The cheese, although, isn't exactly discreet. Oh well, you can't have everything in life.


This is a no-roll pie crust recipe that I found from Joy the Baker's blog. It does not use shortening, just good ol' unsalted butter, vegetable oil and one tablespoon of light cream cheese. I also used olive oil instead of vegetable oil. It turned out super flaky and tasted quite buttery. The only down side is that this crust can't be rolled out so I could not use it for a top crust, only bottom. 

I added some extra ingredients to the chopped almonds and blue cheese: chopped cashews, haw flakes, ground cinnamon and a splash of heavy cream. Basically everything I could find in the house that might distract from the blue cheese.

Voila! The pastry dough turned out excellent but I just was not able to eat these fritters! The pungent taste of the blue cheese made me really nauseous. I only fried three and froze the rest. I'll definitely use the pastry again though!

Quick Update!

Here is what's been happening in my kitchen the past couple of days!


Friday night (really late - I was up until 2am)
I randomly had the urge to make a lemon meringue pie! Which I did and failed. I was so tired and couldn't admit it and totally forgot to bake the pie crust (I know right?!) before pouring the fillings in. So the pie (which was squared, because well, I still need to buy a new pie pan), looked beautiful but tasted nasty. Completely undercooked. UGH.

Saturday

Meg came over again for another cooking escapade. She made sugar cookies and I made my first successful batch of super-awesome-baked goods a.k.a. Blondieeees! Phew. I've made Blondies a gazillion times before but it's just never the way I want them. Finally...FINALLY I tell you. Since they were so good (would have been better if I had some ice-cream...May?) the entire batch of 9x9 square was gone before I even had a change to snap some pics. Not that I wasn't a possible culprit. Going to make another batch some time before the weekend!

Sunday
I bought a $300+ new toy yesterday: a KitchenAid Stand Mixer! I have yet to test it out but it does look very pretty sitting on my kitchen counter. Then, I attended the free cooking class at William-Sonoma which was really disappointing. It was more like a demo. We didn't even get to touch any food. I guess that's why it was free. The two ladies just kept trying to sell us the W-S products! When I got home, I made little lemon tarts for the office. I gotta work on the pastry tarts...not flaky enough.

Tonight
I just made a quick, comfort meal: home fries. We ate so much of this in Rome I could make it with my eyes closed. I added some spring onions and leftover bits of Chinese BBQ pork I found in the fridge. It tasted pretty good to me.