what do you get when you take two of my favourite things and put them together???

CADBURY CREME EGG COOKIES!!!!!!

Step one:

Freeze the creme eggs.



Step two:

Chop up the creme eggs. Lick fingers.



Step three:

Mix up batch of your favourite chocolate chip cookies. Stick on a piece of frozen creme egg. Bake until done.



Step four:

Enjoy with a big glass of milk.



After thought... sweet... super sweet cookie. The sticky fondant melted and formed a nice crusty layer on some of the cookies. But the effect was inconsistent (but still tasty). The Cadbury milk chocolate never melted as I thought it would, so some of the creme egg filling was left behind and hardened nicely.

Not sure if I would repeat this recipe, but I did have to "taste test" a whole bunch of them to decide whether or not I liked the cookies. ;)

rhymes with orange

2 weeks of tangerine obsession... culminates in... failure...

Some things are better when you dream about them, and not when you try to bring it into reality.

1 cake, 2 cake, 3 cake... i bake

I'm always a little trepidatious when it comes to trying new cake recipes. I like using the tried and true, whether it be for taste or texture, and don't tend to vary from the usual vanilla or chocolate. But my repetoire is getting a little narrow. Sure, I can decorate like a fiend, but I'd love for my cakes to taste amazing as well. It's not enough that they LOOK good, but they have to TASTE good, too.

But here's my dirty little secret.

I. DON'T. LIKE. CAKE.

If I can help it, I don't eat cake. I'm not crazy about sweets in particular (some exceptions may apply... i.e. pie), and cake has got to be on the bottom of the list of things I'd willingly put into my mouth.

There's no rhyme or reason behind my dislike. I just don't. I used to like cake. I don't anymore.

So when I bake a cake, I try a piece to check that I didn't inadvertently use salt instead of sugar and baking powder instead of baking soda, that's about it. I rely on everyone else around me to tell me if it tastes good (or bad). But like everyone else, I'm finding that people's opinions vary from night and day. There's the "too sweet" people and the "too rich" people to the "not chocolatey enough" people and the "omg, this is the best damned thing I've ever eaten" people. Thus, it's really hard for me to judge what recipe is worthy of repeating.

Today, I tried a new recipe for chocolate mud cake that I have been eyeing for a few weeks now. At first, I was intrigued by the white chocolate version, but hey, I don't like white chocolate very much, and Wednesday's birthday boy is apparently a chocolate fan. Done.

Only, halfway through the baking process I got distracted by something on television and forgot to add some ingredients. Key ingredients such as SUGAR and COCOA POWDER (oh my!). And me being forgetful me, I didn't double check the recipe and popped the whole thing into the oven at 160 degrees C. Whoops.

An hour and a bit later, the kitchen smelled heavenly. Aroma de chocolat filled the air and everyone else's taste buds were watering. The cake smelled fantastic... and tasted... not bad.

It was more of a dark chocolate souffle. Very light and airy and not sweet at all. It would have been a perfect recipe for a molten lava cake, and amazing if paired with ice cream and a light drizzle of raspberry coulis.

So what am I saying with all this? Nothing really. Only that sometimes accidents are a good thing.

Oh, and btw, I made another cake following the recipe to the "T" that somehow, it doesn't seem quite as good. But we'll let the birthday boy be the judge of that recipe.

a taste of liquid sunshine

There is nothing close to the experience of sipping Pernod on a patio in the summertime. The pastis is light and incredibly refreshing, tasting faintly of anise and unlike a lot of cocktails, not too sweet. A simple squeeze of lemon enhances the aromas and opens up the flavours of the drink, giving it a depth that others come close to having, but don't.

The happy, sunny yellow colour of the drink is characteristic of this particular spirit. It pours clear out of the bottle, and turns milky-opaque when water (or ice) is added.

Which is very important to know.

Because, if say, one was sitting on the patio at jump and orders a Pernod with water and lemon, and receives something that is more of a milky beige than a sunny yellow, one would know that it is not Pernod and that the bartender is trying to pull the wool over one's eyes by substituting Ricard. Which does, by the way, taste different and has a stronger lingering licorice-like finish with none of the floral notes of Pernod.

(note to bartender... don't do it again)

Finding it in Toronto patios and bars is still a little difficult - demand and supply and the fact that marketing efforts seem to be concentrated in Quebec (aging French ex-pat target market and all that jazz). If you do manage to find it, prices will vary from the amazing value for money $4.55 at jump to a not so wallet friendly $10-something at the middle-management-convention filled louge at the hotel on Front St. across from Lone Star.

(see how far I'll go to avoid mentioning the name of that place...)

Word of caution. Pernod is definitely not the drink for everyone - some people find the anise flavour off-putting. And while I'm usually a card carrying member of the licorice haters party and really truly do think that the flavour of black licorice in anything is just plain icky, the mildness of the Pernod is strangely appealing... especially with that squeeze of lemon.

xacutti... always a good thing

bombay scrambled eggs



egg white frittata



mango and blueberry pancakes



where: xacutti
next time: super cheesy french toast

lesson learned

If you leave cupcakes outside on the balcony, make sure you keep an eye out for squirrels, m'kay?

princess buttercup

I used to think that it didn't matter what was inside the cake so long as the outside looked good.

I was so wrong... so very, very wrong...

On the other hand, if you use enough buttercream, you can hide practically anything.

chocolate buttermilk, yellow cake and swiss meringue buttercream

using up the leftovers

Lemon lime meringue, using up the leftover lime curd and egg whites from the weekend. Not quite as good as the others because I ran out of the lime curd, but devoured really quickly nonetheless.

Conclusion: More lime curd = better cupcakes = more raves

rambutan

I can't believe it's taken me almost 30 years to try a Rambutan. Actually, I'm sure I've tried it sometime in a prior life, but I brushed it aside as a "meh" and then quickly forgot about it.

Rambutan has the texture of a Longan or a Mamoncillo (spanish lime), meaning that the flesh of the fruit is a lot more firm and chewy than a Lichee. It also means that it's a lot more work to eat one. It has a slightly more citrusy flavour and none of the tonguebiting aftertaste of the Longan... bonus.

The spiky spines are somewhat intimidating at first, but they're actually kind of soft and pose no harm when you grasp the fruit and crack it open to reveal the shiny eyeball-looking fruit inside. Eat the flesh, not the seed. I was told the seed was bitter, so I took a bite (spat it out). Found out later that it's poisonous. Whoops.


Still not a rave. More of a "meh." Nothing that I would crave and make a special trip to buy. But then again, I don't really like Longans either. It's a texture thing.

the-bear-that-walks-like-this...

The meaning behind the name of this Russian confectionary was more entertaining than the candy itself. Actually, the motions of the woman who was trying to tell me how the bear walked was more entertaining than the name of the candy.

It's a cross between a Coffee Crisp and a Bounty with nary a hint of coconut. Slightly creamy with a dark chocolate outside, it's not too bad if you're looking for a chocolate that's not too sweet. Too bad it's got that slightly chewy wafer in it that reminds me of a stale Kit Kat. Otherwise, I'd be all over that Russian teddy bear.

too much of a good thing

I love these little roasted crabs. I really do. But after you've played with one for a while, and posed it for pictures, it just doesn't feel right to eat it anymore.

It's just too damn cute.

where: Galleria Supermarket

egad... yet another food blog...

I love food, and I live to eat good food.

I don’t consider myself a foodie or even a chowhound. I don’t eschew fast food, nor do I let the critics tell me where to eat. I might let them guide me once in a while, but often times, they are wrong.

I let my cravings dictate my meals, and my meals dictate my life.

I don’t profess to be a “normal” eater and love that I have a reputation for delighting in the unusual. I’ve been known to eat pork jerky for breakfast, and snack on nori throughout the afternoon. Growing up, my mother used to give us ice-cream for breakfast.

It’s never been a question of what will I eat, more one of what won’t I eat.

I will try everything twice… even if I hated it the first time...