Pâtisserie Monday
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Food & Nosh
I know everyone’s expecting a beauty entry from me and I do have new stuff to share but I haven’t had time to photograph them yet because my roomie’s mom is here for a week so we’ve both been playing glorified tour guides paid for our trade in what a poor university student considers gold: free meals and the occasional ice cream. We dropped by Brunetti’s yesterday so I’m going to be civil and share some of my old shots of the place plus new ones of the desserts we had - yeah, you can think of this as a ‘filler’ entry of sorts lol. You guys prolly realised from my previous Brunetti’s entry that I am completely inept at remembering cake names so I’m going to stop pretending I know Italian and stick to typing what I can remember about each cake ;p
Biscotti on display!
The interior of the main store at Lygon St which is strategically built 15 mins away from my campus. It’s also a strategic way to get fat if you’re not careful.
Yummy. (And just so we’re clear, I’m not talking about the cakes/interior design of the place meheh)
Nothing warms the bitter heart like a cup of hot chocolate.
Raspberry vanilla cake thing which tasted like it was meant to be ice cream in a former life but someone thought it would be fascinating to translate that into a cake; in simpler terms: IT WAS HELLA GOOD.
Crap I don’t even remember what was in this cake. Can I go by aesthetics alone and guess what’s inside the cake? A triple layer of chocolate, coffee and er more chocolate (??) mousse topped with cream + hazelnuts. God, I fail at life. Don’t judge me, just look at the damn picture and marvel at how awesome it must have tasted mmkay.
The Royale cake (hey hey I finally remembered something!) Hazelnut, chocolate praline and this amazing crumbly wafer-like base = easily my fave chocolate cake.
FRUIT TART. There, that was easy.
The mini profiterole. It’s called a ‘mini’ because they actually sell a version that’s taller than a pair of Louboutins. Mini choux pastry coated in a dark chocolate, filled with a light vanilla bean-infused cream and stacked on a mound of more cream!
The inner workings of an amazing profiterole; just sublime!
Tags: nosh: desserts
Green tea tiramisu I would sell my Guccis for.
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Food & Nosh
I’m really not much of a baking person, I’m not one to fret over precise measurements of different types of flour, yeasts etc and I’m completely not bothered with the large-scale clean up that comes after the cake has been served. I love cooking because you’re allowed a sense of control when it comes to recipes, you can play around with the ingredients because there really is no need for accuracy (which is why most of my recipes don’t really have accurate measurements)
I like my food cooked fast and my desserts fuss-free. If I wanted anything fancier, I’d just eat out at a restaurant you know? My green tea tiramisu is something I’m very proud of- it’s a no-bake dessert, has everything i’ve ever dreamed (the only thing it lacks is a hot date to share it with but I guess my BFF Dejiki would suffice for now XD)
The only thing hard about it is probably the 5 hours you need to wait for it to chill. Aah that’s another reason why I’m not such fan of baking; I’m severely lacking in the patience department (something I have in common with 70% of the male population) I just can’t sit and fiddle in front of the oven waiting for the damn cake to rise.. I honestly admire and applaud you homebakers, how do you guys do it??
Mascarpone cheese has this perfect thick, whipped consistency right out of the container - don’t you think it looks heavenly already?
Purists would probably scoff at the idea of having a non-espresso, kahlua based tiramisu but I love my green tea and I don’t care for opinions made by old men who drink coffee in their sweats and catch flies all day (that’s how I’d imagine tiramisu purists to look like) Green tea tiramisu isn’t something new and the basic essentials of making a tiramisu still remain; I’m using lady fingers like all tiramisu recipes - italian sugar-coated sponge biscuits with a slight hint of vanilla.
You need to steep the lady fingers in a cup of matcha green tea and arrange them to make a base for your tiramisu. Try not to go overboard with the steeping like I did lol or the tiramisu would be overly moist…which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Smooth over the first layer of mascarpone..remember we are not aiming for perfection here people. If I was aiming for perfection, I would have opened a patisserie a long time ago selling slices of tiramisu at an inflated price of $9.99 ;D
Green Tea Tiramisu
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup white sugar
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
300g mascarpone cheese
1 packet lady finger biscuits
the best matcha powder you can buy
200ml hot water
1. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar and the vanilla essence until it turns a light yellow.
2. Fold in the mascarpone cheese and mix till smooth (it’s best to leave it out of the fridge for a bit so you don’t have to beat the heck out of a solid chunk of cheese.)
3. Make your green tea with the hot water and lightly soak the lady fingers in the tea.
4. Arrange the biscuits in the dish to make a base for the tiramisu.
5. Cover the biscuits with half of the mascarpone mixture and dust some matcha powder on it.
6. Repeat steps 3-5 until you get a duo layer tiramisu!
7. Cover with cling wrap and chill it in the fridge for 5 hours at least (no cheating guys, I’m watching you.)
The BFF LOVES this tiramisu and only eats it when I make it - he also happens to be the pickiest eater I know so it makes me feel almost godly whenever I give him a slice LOL. If you have any questions pertaining to the recipe, ask me in the comments!
Work’s finally overrrr!! I really should start packing for my move but unfortunately, my mind seems to be more interested in making lunch/dinner dates with my friends haha! I haven’t got the slightest clue on how I’m going to pack all my make-up and shoes x_x I thinking of wrapping everything (make-up, I mean) in bubble wrap and packing them in a box to be checked in as “Fragile”. Anyone have any better ideas?
Tags: nosh: desserts, recipes
How to impress your BFF (who has everything) on his birthday
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Food & Nosh
Say you’ve got a BFF who’s of the opposite sex, someone you can talk just about everything to, watches the same shows you watch (except Gossip Girl, bless his heart), has a very healthy saving habit so he can buy whatever his heart desires (which sadly is short of a CHANEL 2.55 for me ;_;) so what the heck do you give someone who most probably has everything he’s ever wanted?
Girl, you do what I do every year: You take him out for a nice meal some place posh and swanky. Trust me, there will be less drama, your sanity will remain intact and all of humanity is saved.
If the place you’ve chosen happens to have a sorta old English thing going on in their chosen interior design theme then you know it’s a safe bet to take your best friend here especially if he a) also happens to be a designer b) appreciates good brand identity that’s reflected in their store design c) likes all things English.
It’ll be even more awesome if the restaurant has a couple of randomly hung crystal balls around the dining area because that’s just cool and hey it doesn’t matter if the chances of you being impaled by a large, probably very heavy crystal sphere thing just increased ten-fold - IT’S YOUR BEST FRIEND’S BIRTHDAY SO SUCK IT UP!
And you gotta make sure the restaurant specializes in something e.g. french cuisine or whatever. In this particular case, tea is the poison of choice so you betta make sure the menu has over 800 different varieties of tea blends, doesn’t matter if you don’t know or can’t pronounce half of them (wtf is “Happy Flute Tea”? srsly.) because these 800 tea names will be listed out in an excruciatingly small but elegant font spread over 5 pages and that would totally impress the BFF.
All you got to do is just squint your eyes, randomly select a tea you think sounds delicious - in my case, the Pomme Prestige tea (cos Pomme is like apple in French duh) and when your BFF asks “Erm what do you recommend?” You clear your throat and smoothly reply like a true tea connoisseur - “You should check out the Happy Birthday tea!” And he orders just that XD
SO WHAT if the place charges exorbitant amounts of money for their tea time sets (smartly named “Chic” and “Celebration” to justify their prices) which include chi-chi tea sandwiches smaller than the size of your palm?! Remember they’re made from tea-infused crème fraîche and that tiny smile on your BFF’s face when the sets arrive? PRICELESS BB. He’s trying to hide his best to hide his excitement but you can almost see it bubblin’ from deep within LOL.
Ok ok TWG will always be me and the BFF’s favourite tea haunt, we both love tea (dude my domain name has the word tea in it rofl) and although we usually get our tea fix from there, LK/Dejiki/Nicholas (dude has a lot of aliases) and I have never actually sat down and enjoyed one of their infamous tea time sets before so what better excuse to do so than on his birthday right? Depending on which set you order, you get to choose 3 macaroons, 3 tea sandwiches and a patisserie.
I had 2 Cucumber with “Earl Grey Fortune Tea” infused cream cheese sandwiches and a Smoked Salmon with Mascarpone and Chive sandwich, loved both of them but the cucumber one’s my fave! It’s very light and the cucumber + cream cheese made quite a happy marriage of flavours lol.
My choice of pattiserie was a slice of their Singapore Surprise cake tart which is apparently their signature cake. LK had a few bites and thought it to be like a “crème brûlée but the EXTREME version” and I wholeheartedly agree. It’s got raspberries in a light, airy cream that’s been infused with their “Vanilla Bourbon” tea and the top is made of burnt brown sugar, love it.
The real star of the show was actually the Chocolate Meringue cake LK chose for himself. It’s essentially made of an insanely smooth and dense semi-dark chocolate cream topped with crumbly layers of…more chocolate! I think TWG chocolate cakes are a force to be reckoned with, I tried the Chocolate Macadamia cake with Hid some time back and it was just as good!
Teas are their main forte of course, I’ve tried a couple and I would seriously recommend the Pomme Prestige tea (black tea with apple), Happy Birthday tea (black tea with berries - order this on your birthday, it’ll make you feel special!), Silver Moon tea (green tea with vanilla and strawberries, my ultimate fave!), Crème Brûlée tea (green tea with vanilla and berries, similar to Silver Moon but is sweeter to resemble the decadent dessert) and Sakura! Sakura! tea (green tea infused with sakura petals, jasmine and berries - very flowery and how adorable is the name?)
TWG Tea Salon & Boutique
Raffles Place, #01 - 22
Republic Plaza
Singapore 048619
Tel: +65 6538 1837
I realized yesterday that I totally forgot to blog about my trip to the KRYOLAN Cosmetics store in Melbourne, geez. I’m so absent-minded D: I’ll talk about that in my next entry + other random beauty stuff. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Thank you so much for reading Tea Noir, it’s been great knowing all of you! Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2010 - cheers to love, peace, beauty and food xoxo
Tags: life, nosh: desserts, nosh: TWG
Damn Good Panna Cotta
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Food & Nosh
There’s nothing like making your own dessert. Yes, it can get messy and yes, it’s such a pain waiting for it to chill in the fridge but I think it’s an unbeatable awesome feeling to eat something delicious you actually took the time to make!
You probably have to pay maybe $5-6 for a cup of panna cotta in a restaurant? What’s the point when you can actually save some money (yeah right. I used the money saved and invested it in more make-up >D) and make your own? I found this fabulously easy recipe on David Lebovitz (whom I think is the king of decadent desserts!) so I decided to try it out during my slumber party with Nadz last week!
Panna cotta is essentially vanilla flavoured heavy cream set in little cute bowls so this recipe isn’t exactly diet-friendly BUT WHO CARES RIGHT? I DON’T BECAUSE WE ONLY LIVE ONCE BITCHEZZ!
David Lebovitz’s Perfect Panna Cotta
This recipe makes about 8 cups.
4 cups (1l) heavy cream (or half-and-half)
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, or 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
2 packets powdered gelatin (about 4 1/2 teaspoons)
6 tablespoons (90ml) cold water
1. Heat the heavy cream and sugar in a saucepan or microwave. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
(If using a vanilla bean, scrape the seeds from the bean into the cream and add the bean pod. Cover, and let infuse for 30 minutes. Remove the bean then rewarm the mixture before continuing.)
2. Lightly oil eight custard cups with a neutral-tasting oil.
3. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in a medium-sized bowl and let stand 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Pour the very warm Panna Cotta mixture over the gelatin and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved.
5. Divide the Panna Cotta mixture into the prepared cups, then chill them until firm, which will take at least two hours but I let them stand at least four hours.
If you’re pressed for time, pour the Panna Cotta mixture into wine goblets so you can serve them in the glasses, without unmolding.
6. Run a sharp knife around the edge of each Panna Cotta and unmold each onto a serving plate, and garnish as desired.
Many thanks to the very patient hot cream pouring and spoon holding Nadz who had to endure my very anal making-of panna cotta photography session. It’s her birthday today and she’s in Malaysia having the time of her life! Happy birthday darling, I hope you’re enjoying yourself over there - come back safe!
Sorry I disappeared all week, I’ve been busy having too much fun ;D If you’ve been following me on twitter, you’d know payday was yesterday and I bought some beauty-related stuff, can’t wait to show you guys - all will be revealed tomorrow!
Til next time~
recipe courtesy of David Lebovitz
Tags: nosh: desserts, recipes
The Marmalade Pantry
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Food & Nosh
I went out on a casual lunch date over the weekend with my fave lawyer couple, Shaz and Aidil! I’ve not seen Shaz in months, Aidil and I haven’t officially met so the lunch date was a long time coming. It was very impromptu honestly, Shaz had been tweeting about how deliciously light the food at The Marmalade Pantry was the past month, especially the risotto so I was like wait, hold on thar - did she just say RISOTTO?!
Here’s the sad truth: I’ve never eaten risotto in my life. I know it’s hard to believe since I’m pretty hardcore about food but yeah, srsly this girl here has never tasted a grain of the delicately flavoured arborio rice in the 21 years of her life.
So that was it, I had to ask Shaz out for lunch/dinner/supper/WHATEVER I DON’T CARE AS LONG AS I GET MY RISOTTO…Somewhere out there in the universe, the stars aligned in perfect symmetry and cleared Shaz & Aidil’s schedule on Sunday! We were all set for a gastronomical adventure whoo hoo!
God they are such an amazing couple. They have this special ability to make you feel comfortable, like you’ve known them for years because we just kept talking and talking and talking with no awkward pauses! They’ve been to the restaurant a couple of times already so they recommended me a few star dishes.
For starters, we shared this Warm Spinach Salad with breaded cubes of mozzarella and burnt butter dressing. It was served with a perfect poached egg on top and MY GOD IT WAS SOOOO GOOD. I have no clue what went into the burnt butter dressing but I did taste some hints of balsamic vinegar which I adore so that’s extra brownie points for The Marmalade Pantry!
* Muslims, please note that this salad originally has bacon in it, make sure to ask for the salad without the bacon when ordering!
Aidil had the Crabmeat Linguine with pine nuts in a tomato base. I had such a kick out of sampling his dish because I didn’t expect it to be…spicy. I love its spiciness, the crabmeat was flaked nicely and it was just really refreshing!
Shaz ordered the Cappellini Aglio Olio which had roughly a million tiny shrimp in it lol! I don’t know how to describe the taste of the pasta, it’s got a nice crunch and the shrimp added a slightly sharp contrast of flavour to the aglio olio - you guys just have to try it k!
And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for - wait NO! it’s the moment I, ILYANA, HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR ALL MY LIFE…the Truffled Field Mushroom Risotto! My very first risotto and I am happy to say I’m not disappointed at all. It’s everything I’ve imagined it to be: creamy but light and absolutely bursting with flavour. Sigh I wish I could turn back time and savour it all over again!
CUPCAKES! So pretty to look at, no? They sell out really really fast and the ones we got were basically the “leftovers”. Shaz & Aidil recommended me the chocolate cupcakes the restaurant had like The Chocolate Deluxe (O.M.G) and The Nutella (how can u go wrong with nutella right?) BUT EVERY CUPCAKE WITH SO MUCH AS A DUSTING OF COCOA POWDER WAS SOLD OUT. WHY GOD WHY?!
We settled for the Limonata which is, if you might have guessed, a lemon glazed cupcake and the Strawberries and Creme (no explanations needed for this one I’m sure lol) They were nice but Shaz told me the chocolate cupcakes were much better in terms of taste and texture so I’m going to skip out on the fruity flavoured cupcakes and beeline for the chocolate ones next time.
Not only was it my first time eating risotto, it was also the first time I ventured into sticky date & toffee pudding land aka real-life heaven. This was actually Aidil’s but us girls being girls, we stole some baha! I LOVE THIS STUFF. I heard from the couple that this was the restaurant’s best seller and it’s no wonder really - the pudding was moist and slight chewy, accompanied with a sweet caramel toffee drizzle + a scoop of some damn good vanilla bean ice cream. Such a perfect symphony of flavours, yummm.
I think I’m in love with The Marmalade Pantry. I like the atmosphere, the food, the whole brand identity (srsly how quaint is the logo?!) I love this huge ass flower that sits prettily on every table (can someone identify this flower for me?), the prices, I won’t lie, are a little steep compared to what most people are used to but I believe you get what you pay for so if you have a special occasion coming up, bring that special someone here!
Lol moment: Aidil playing around with my wallet while we were waiting for the bill, you don’t mess with PRADA k!
A quick shot of me, Shaz and Aidil before we headed home! We watched Julie & Julia in the cinemas after lunch, you should check it out - it’s a nice heartwarming FOODIE movie! Just don’t watch it on an empty stomach, you’d be lusting after french food during the entire movie.
The Marmalade Pantry
Unit 03-22
Orchard Ion
2 Orchard Turn
Singapore 238801
Til next time~
Edit 10/11/2009: Okay guys I’ve just been informed by a commenter that the Risotto and the Cappellini Aglio Olio contains white wine in it! We were totally clueless about it and I’m slightly devastated that I can’t eat my risotto again. Muslim readers, I don’t want to go all preachy because I’m sure we get enough from our parents to last us a lifetime lol but please take note!
Tags: friends, life, nosh: desserts, nosh: italian food, nosh: salads
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