I want to be a pâtissier with the sweet smell and take the risk of becoming a fat girl

Strawberries parfait with Fig balsamic syrup

我叫金三顺（Sam Soon）is my favorite Korean show,  she is not skinny , not pretty, but she is so adorable and lovely with all kinds of nice characters, if I was a guy, I would love her. She is a talented pâtissier, so she always smells sweet and she is sweet. She said the she likes to make cake in the early morning when she is unhappy, which is the sweetest way to heal in the world. I love this, and I believe she is right, so I want to be a pâtissier like her !(*Reason No 1*)

(BTW: she also said " my job is to make chocolate and cake , how could I not be fat?!" > <)

And my name is gaogao(糕糕), it's cakecake, so I have to be able to make cake, I am supposed to.  (*Reason No2*)

It is said  " when you look at a cupcake, you are supposed to smile', so being  a pâtissier  means people always smile at her, how lovely!  So it's so tempting to be a pâtissier.(*Reason No 3)

I know it will take a while to be able to make the best cake, but I can still smell the sweet during the whole process even if my cake doesn't come out well. I hope one day all the world will smile at me because I can make best cake  : D

Strawberries parfait with Fig balsamic syrup

Making whipping Cream:

Mascarpone Cheese (8oz)

Whipping Cream

Lemon Juice(2 tsp)

Sugar 4TBS

vanilla extract(1tsp)

Making fig balsamic syrup:

black mission figs

a bottle of 750ml balsamic vinegar

honey(optional)

Boiling a bottle of 750ml balsamic vinegar, after about 15 mins add 4-5 dried black mission figs, keep reduce the liquid, use a spoon to test when the syrup can be coasted on a spoon, it's done. If the syrup is too thick, you will get trouble with pouring it out. and it will keep reducing when you move it away from the heat. When it gets cool(not too hot), put it into a blender, let it grinded

Use honey to adjust the sweetness.

** Balsamic syrup is the first professional thing I made , and it intrigued me about the cooking !

How to serve:

Mix strawberries with balsamic syrup about 30mins, then one layer of cream, one layer of strawberries, alternatively, there will be some juice in the mix of strawberries and balsamic syrup, drizzle it onto your parfait, at the end add some fig balsamic syrup on top, decorated with mint or basil leaves

Friend--All in one cookie(oatmeal, raisin, walnut, chocolate, date)

These are  the steps around the Colin Tower in San Francisco. Some commercial things, you pay, then you get a  brick that you can put your name on it, but these two are so special, they are for *friend*. So I am the one on the left, and you are on right, we are remembered by San Francisco.

Cookies

all in one cookie: oatmeal, raisin, walnut, chocolate, date

Besides this one, the last time I made cookies was several years ago, when I was shocked by how much butter and sugar in it, then refuse to make it and even have some fear to eat it. One day, in a bakery, I was asked 'what kind of cookie do you want?' , I just said ' I don't want cookie', then a smiling old guy in front of me, turned around and said' how could you not want cookie?!', yeah, how could I ? then I get the white-chocolate-macadamia-nut-cookie and a smile ...

I am not an expert for cookies, there are some tips I want to write down for memo:

1. use 1/4 cup(or so) less flour as required

2. vegetable shortening can make it more chewy, so I use both butter and shortening

3.chill the dough before making

4.longer the bake time, more crispy, I will use 10mins @350F

Fun Easter

Special Thanks to Yue,

if not you, popped up the easter eggs topic

I wouldn't have myself dedicated to trying those fun stuffs

wouldn't have so much fun from making all kinds of things

I'd love to thank you by the peepshi

Eggs

using all natural colors:

red: beets

blue: red cabbage:

yellow: curry, turmeric

orange: saffron, paprika( failed)

green: spinach (failed)

Peepshi

It's not origin from me( I am not that creative), 

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/03/peeps-recipes-how-to-make-peepshi-sushi-rice-krispies-treats-easter.html?ref=brkbox

But I made wasabi from green peeps( this is invented by me), and I made Rice Crispy treats from Rice Crispy , so that it was easier for me to shape the 'sushi rice'

Ginger Mango Glazed ham with Parsnip-carrot puree, hazelnut butter green beans

At last,  I want to tell everyone, if you can't find your bunny, remember to look up at the moon, she probably will be there :)

A play about spring

(Please adjust your volume to the maximum)

Golden beets, pear red beets puree, dill oil, beet emulsion, walnut dill arugula salad with truffle vinaigrette

Slow cook beet, Lemon ice cream, baby kiwi, fig balsamic syrup, basil lemon syrup

It looks like everybody is cheered up by the warm weather, so we are uplifting  each other. This is the spring from my note book:

1. Green sprouts

2.My neighbour took their griil out

3. Strawberry with reasonable price is back

4.STREET CLEANING > <

The 2800 minutes of WALL-E

Walle, born on 02/16/2010, 17:36pm,  he was alone there most of the time, I felt bad that I didn't make Eva for him, in the 2800 minutes, he witnessed the gorgeous scene after snow, the sunny and bright days, the cold and quiet nights. I guess he was thinking all the time, thought about the people he cared,  wonder why they were so busy, why he couldn't have eva with him.

Walle is gone, I made him a crepe cake, it was a Chocolate crepe cake with Avocado coconut cream. It was a cake involving a lot of work, but sometimes, it is just you care then you don't feel bored. I remember when I ate in 'Craige on Main', I noticed the chef looking at the people there, he was observing, he wanted to know if people enjoyed his food, he put caring in his food, he wanted to make sure people could taste it. As the customers, we are loved by him :)

Chocolate crepe:  flour，almond meal, cocoa powder, (3:2:1, total 1cup), sugar
                           brandy(2Tbs), vanilla, melted butter(3Tbs), egg(2 large)
Avocado coconut cream: avocado, coconut milk
Topping: whipped cream, toasted coconut flakes

Ginger Cream Crepe cake(mille crepe) Giveaway

two more left

Spring Dessert-Red wine poached pear with Ginger Anise Syrup, Pistachio, Candied Ginger, Ginger Ice Cream

I actually made this before,but I didn't know the tip of using beets to color it, so I made it again. if let me name it, I can only come up with 'beauty', or things like that.

But you  told me , it looked like a 'spring dessert', how sweet ! It is still winter here, windy, chilly, how could you think of spring?  I guess maybe you so love the summer here, so you are always thinking about spring?

February, March, April, May...then summer will sneak in, but at that time, I will already have moved away,  so unfair ! I am so patient waiting here, for the winter to pass, but when it really ends, I will not be able to enjoy the summer, brief but lovely.

I know you will be here, enjoying the passionate summer and the gorgeous fall which you have been waiting for almost half a year, I can imagine how exicited you will be, I will feel happy for you somewhere else

This is the spring I catched the other day

Dessert Adventure

There is one thing in the world called as: sugar on the snow
it is to drizzle hot syrup on the snow , then you get formed candied like stuff.
It is something MADE IN VERMONT
I love snow , and cooking, but never could make connection between them , so I was so excited to know such a sweet thing. I had been waiting for about one week for a snow shower.Then I got something like this:

Apparenly I failed, I guess one is because the snow is not heavy enough, the other I pure maple syrup but not drizzled it. Well, it still tasted SWEET.

Here is another adventure:

This is called BACON COVERED with MILK CHOCOLATE WITH ALMOND

YES,  it is bacon covered  with milk chocolate with almond

And, it is just so good, DOUBLE HEAVEN

It's not something I made up, there is one thing called: Bacon chocolate bar  from Vosges Haut

    

If you haven't tried, you should ( Luckily, some of you have tried , right ? :) . You deserve it

Girl food vs. Guy food--Poached pear with Port , ginger and anise Synrup

XGs: How to cook green pea?

Gaogao: Stir fried with tomato and eggs, or ground meat, OR just Bacon,

XGs: How to cook korean rice cake?

Gaogao: Use korean chili paste, saute Bacon first to add more flavor

XGs: It looks like you like bacon a lot

Gaogao: > <

It's often to hear a guy to  claim 'I Love Bacon!' , but it is a little hilarious for a girl or say lady to do that. But woman have the right to love bacon too, our labels are not constrained to 'salad', 'seafood', 'fruit' and 'yogurt', and that doesn't hurt the fact we are still elegant and graceful.

OK, fair enough, Gaogao admits she LOVES Bacon.

But today's food is completely a lady food, a beautiful, wonderful poached pear with ginger and anise syrup.

Basically, poached pear is : a kind of wine, lemon juice, sugar, pear, but pear goes well with ginger and nutmeg, and if want to go Asian, anise and cadamom are alsogood complements.

Poach pear first in the port with all the other ingredients, it takes about 20-40min.

After pear is done, take it out and boil the port to let it reduce to a synrup.

And if you want to pear to be colored well, you can also steep it overnight and make syrup before serving.

It can be served with ice cream or yogurt, I also added rainse and pecan. Pretty girl,right?

I though port would give my pear a stunning red color, but it didn't. Maybe I also added apple cider reduction which is brown. I read some tips about using beet can bring in the vivid red color and won't add other flavors, I will try that and use RED wine.

PS: of course, no one will judge if  a guy like it :)