The "mini" surprise birthday cake

Ok. Where do I start with FOOD?

It took me a really, really long time to figure because I really don’t know. So, what I did was, to gather as many photos of food that I took over the past few years, especially those that came out of my kitchen. For many, I regret not making notes and taking down the recipe (very often I decide what to cook based on my instinct and mood). It also wasn’t till the recent few years, that I made it a point to take pictures. But well, am glad I did “start” somewhere....

So, let's start with this.

 

Last January, I was away as usual for the annual SIHH watch fair. And unfortunately had to miss a girlfriend's big 3-0 birthday party. So I sort of made "secret arrangements" with her hubby, made her a mini blackforest cake the day before I left for Geneva, and got him to collect it from my place on the big day. The chocolate cake was adapted from BBC Good Food's Ultimate Chocolate Cake recipe (http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3092/ultimate-chocolate-cake), sandwiched with softly whipped, sweetened fresh dairy cream. What made it special, was the homemade brandy-soaked cherries between as well as on top of the cake. Painstakingly(literally- read on) pitted by hand without a cherry pitter and soaked for 2 weeks in cherry brandy with a splash of Cointreau. The pitting part was actually I trick I learned from the Internet. All you need is a sharp-ish metal piping tip and an empty wine bottle. In the beginning it wasn't easy at all(it was my first time pitting cherries), and I ended up with a couple of grazes from the piping tip. But after while, you get the hang of it, and it isn't all that bad. Major drawback was the cleaning up the cherry juice stains. Thankfully I now have a proper cherry/olive pitter to make things easier :)

Zhuan @home

 

What, no food?

A very good friend was surprised when she browsed through my blog last night. She texted me this morning to ask: "Hey, I thought you were going to blog about all the yummy stuff that you've been making?" Hmmm. Wonderful, someone who knows me well enough. Thing is, yes I do have a lot of food pictures to blog about, however a little too much I don't know where to start.
And when I was reading some local baking/ food blogs last evening, somehow I felt rather intimidated! I think I've been away from the blogosphere for too long, I was overwhelmed by the kind of posts people put up.
There's this baking blog that I've started reading in early Sept and really enjoyed: http://not-thekitchensink.blogspot.com  , by a sprightly girl named Janine. The kind of posts she put up, eg. collating all different types of sugars, flours etc into a very detailed table....WOW. Not sure if I could ever muster that kind of effort to do it. It's like going back to school again and making your own notes! But the things she posts are really helpful right down to the notes she takes down at the end of every recipe that she tried out.

I'm really not sure if I'm up to be that kind of food blogger, but I'll see what I can come up with. I come from an editorial background, after all!

So, if you're still waiting for all my food posts, please bear with me for a while. I will fill up this blog, slowly, but surely. Thanks for your patience :)

Zhuan @home