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Text of the page (random words):
ol is that even a word assiness easier said than done eh actually it can be done pretty easily to create the hotter bottom surface for baking caneles i start the baking process off on the stove in a cast iron pan why cast iron like copper it conducts and retains heat very effectively preheat the oven to 475 f with a baking sheet on the middle rack canelé molds don t sit very well by themselves on an oven rack the baking sheet is to create a stability surface to bake the caneles on it is important to preheat the oven with the baking sheet because well it defeats the purpose of preheating the oven if you re going to put the caneles on a cold baking sheet and then stick it in the oven right while mr oven is preheating put a cast iron or heavy metal skillet on the stove over high heat meanwhile pull the batter out from the refrigerator there will most likely be a layer of foam on the surface do not skim it off instead stir it back into the batter when the oven is ready pour the batter into the wax lined molds fill the molds almost to the top leaving 1 4 place the filled molds into the preheated skillet and lower the heat down a notch to about medium high 5 mins in you will see the wax starting to melt and the outer part of the batter begin bubble cook at around 8 10 mins you will see the canele start to rise a tad above the rim of the mold they are now ready to graduate into the oven to continue to bake all stoves are different the time guide above is just for reference use your best judgment and trust your instinct if it looks ready then it s probably ready warm batter at room temp will only need about 5 8 mins on the stove also do not over crowd the pan over crowding not enough heat to do it s thing using tongs carefully transfer the caneles into the oven placing them on the baking sheet immediately lower the oven temperature to 375 f and bake for 30 45mins the caneles should have a dark brown complexion when they re ready pull the caneles from the oven and immediately invert them onto a wired rack to cool they should slip right out thanks to the beeswax now would be a good time to put a new coat of wax into molds for future baking as the are still hot voila beautiful evenly bake canelé every time note if you re baking in silicone molds skip the stove step heat your oven to 475 f fill the molds pop them in the oven and then lower the temperature to 375 f and bake until dark golden about 1h 1h 15mins from my experience crusts of canelés baked in silicone molds tend to be chewy gummy the beeswax help release the canelés from the mold very easily leaving behind no residue therefore i almost always take advantage of the hot molds from the oven and do a wax coat right after baking a batch if prefer to clean the molds and want them looking bright and shiny use a mix of vinegar and salt put salt in a bowl and mix in some vinegar to make a paste rub this mixture over the copper and rinse with water they will brighten and sparkle like new 11 52 pm category 0 comments bánh tai yến swallow s nest cakes this is a very simple cake from the mekong delta not just popular in southern vietnam but also in cambodia they re named for their resemblance to a swallow s nest a k a tổ yến a traditional recipe would likely call for cơm rượu for leavening as with bánh bò a well made bánh tai yến should have rễ tre the honeycomb texture like all traditional asian pastries the ingredients are simple to track down and guess what they re gluten free ingredients 250g rice flour 15g tapioca starch 150g sugar 175g water 100g coconut milk baking soda just a tad enough oil for to deep fry with method mix everything together to make a smooth batter what s that you see lumps in the batter pass the batter through a strainer fill a deep pot about 1 2 full with oil or fill the pot with oil until it s 1 2 empty either way the pot needs to be able to hold twice as much oil as you re filling it with lol heat the oil over medium high heat until it reaches 350 f using a small ladle give the batter a quick stir then pour a ladle s worth of batter depending your preference straight into the oil by straight into the oil i mean pour the batter in a steady stream do not move the ladle your arm while pouring in about 10 15 seconds the cake should float to the surface continue frying until they are light golden note only a pinch of baking soda is needed seriously baking soda reacts with heat releases carbon dioxide while the starches in the flour expands and coagulates to capture the gases this gives the cake their trademark honeycomb texture too much baking soda too much reaction in other words too much gas is released too fast for the starches to hold them together the result the batter will break into tiny bits and pieces 1 01 am category 7 comments asia 2011 việt nam is it possible to travel to asia without stopping by vietnam for many people yes it is possible for me however the answer would be no it just won t be right to pass by the land where my parents came from a land where my ancestors are still buried a home away from home nothing much to do in saigon except for the usual eating shopping and getting clothes tailored after a few days i headed south into the mekong delta it was my uncle s death anniversary đám giỗ and we were treated to a feast roasted pork with pandan bánh hỏi duck curry beef stir fried with fresh leek bulbs and lotus rootlet salad with free ranged chicken after our lunch feast it was a time for a stroll in the back yard look what i found they re called trái dâu in vietnamese does anyone know the english name fresh bamboo shoots ummm fresh pandan leaves they grow like weeds apparently they are considered weeds as no one plants or take cares of them they just grow fresh durian ready to be plucked from the tree and eaten and yes they were plucked from the three and eaten delicious lotus flowers so beautiful and graceful before heading back to saigon we stopped for a bowl of hủ tiếu mỹ tho rice noodles with pork shrimp and chives in a clear aromatic broth a few days later it was time to head to laos my tour flew me from saigon to hue for breakfast then from hue we drove over to laos hum what shall we have for breakfast in hue bún bò huế of course our tour guide took us to a local hole in the wall place on lý thường kiệt street i have to say the bún bò huế in huế is very different from what i have had in saigon or seattle the broth is not as pungent of lemongrass and shrimp paste and the fresh veggie mix has different herbs in it most noticeable is the addition for rau má after lunch we boarded the bus and headed for lao bảo the vietnamese laos border before crossing we stopped for lunch 12 27 am category 5 comments asia 2011 macau 澳門 next up is macau the funny thing is a visit to macau was not in my original plans my hong kong tour was consolidated so i had a few extra days it was either spend it in hong kong or find something else to do like go to macau the macau tour was only 100 so why not we took the ferry from hong kong and in a little over an hour we arrived in macau our tour guide picked us up and off we went first stop st paul s cathedral or should i say ruins of st paul s cathedral it was breathtakingly beautiful almost 200 years older then the united states views of the city from the top of st paul s sitting on the side of st paul s are a few shops selling goods tourist more on that later but caught my eye was this cozy humble little temple i looked like something you would see in one of those old chinese kung fu movies charming i bet it is older then the united states too a few steps from the temple lies a small but well know pastry shop by well know i mean their products are available in the u s or at least seattle besides their famous almond cookies they had a wide assortment of other pastries caught them in the act making these wafers one of those sweet and savory snacks that asians are known to love a sweet crisp egg wafer with a strip of seaweed and salted peanut filling what s that i see in the pastry case a portuguese egg tart it was delicious flaky pastry with creamy custard it was still warm freshly baked yum next stop tin hau temple said to be built over 600 years ago it still stands in glory the temple is dedicated to a mah aka tin hau and sits on the bay of a mah which in chinese is a mah gau according to legend when the first portuguese arrived the first thing they saw as the temple the locals told them they re at a mah gau and eventually a mau gau became macau what else is macau known for casinos of course sorry no cameras allowed inside and that concludes macau one of the most unique and charming places i ve been a land where past and present complement one another 12 34 am category 1 comments asia 2011 hong kong 香港 my month long trip to asia actually started in mid april i meant to post sooner but have just been busy d better late then never right here it is first stop hong kong a few pictures of the cityscape highrises everywhere this picture was taken of from my hotel room we stayed at harbor plaza resort city in tin shui wai the hotel was nice but it was a bit out of the way about 45 mins from anything so we hopped on a taxi to ya ma tei for dim sum which was amazing especially the ma lai koh so soft and chewy with the right sweetness and richness after dim sum we strolled around to explore the city i was actually looking for shanghai street which florence mentioned to me for buying kitchen stuff thanks florence we bumped into tin hau temple of course i had to stop by to pay my respects day 2 of course more dim sum for breakfast and then it was off to aberdeen fishing village the famous jumbo restaurant did not get a chance to eat there although i would have liked to stop by for a meal i assume most of their costumers are tourist and well tourist food isn t always the best food new building starting to pop up right on the shores of the fishing village what s left of it apparently the government is trying to reclaim the village fill it with dirt to build more buildings most of the villagers have moved on the traditional fishing village is actually more like a bunch of small boat filled with tourist sailing around witnessing the change that is happening i m sad to say it s not much of a fishing village or any village our tour dropped us off at a jewelry factory yes we went in knowing it s a tourist trap and yes the prices are probably going to be much much higher then elsewhere but we were already there the best you can do is not buy anything right right just go in take a look and not buy anything so much for that the pendant you see above modeled by yours truly originally cost 1600 it s a luck feng shui pendent it s a fan with a diamond in the middle the blades of the fan represent good health peace happiness and fortune the fan spins with movement from walking and makes a sound like a money counting machine all of this is supposed to bring good luck to the wearer how cool is that but for how much my mom got a smaller one the price for that was supposed to be 250 i told them 888 luck number lol for both and after about an hour of haggling they finally sold it for my asking price more then half of their original price i m positive the still made a profit or else why would they sell it although i m a pastry chef i know i over paid seriously the diamond is in the middle is so small you can hardly see it and there s not much gold platinum in it but hey you only live once and it s not like i go to hong kong everyday at least that s what i telling myself our tour continued into the city a few pictures of the many high rise buildings in hong kong day 3 lantau island po lin monastery our vegetarian lunch roasted pork stir fried veggies with prawns tofu spicy mustard soup delish we actually set out to the temple at around 11am i was warm and sunny at the base of the island but as soon as we got to the top temple it was dark and raining as you can see from the pictures above when i say rain i really mean rain water was pouring down as if god was dumping buckets upon buckets of water down to earth the staircase leading to the giant buddha statue became a waterfall i wanted to take a picture but it was raining so hard i was afraid to get my camera out afterwards due to the rain everyone decided to leave unfortunately due to safety concerns the cable cars that take people to and from the temple does not run when the weather is bad so a ton of people were waiting in line in the rain for the storm to end and the cable cars to work again our tour guide tried to call a taxi to bring us down but were all booked he called again and told them we were willing to pay an extra 40 and what do you know the taxi came in 5 mins a few pictures of the buddha statue that i was able to snap during the brief moments that the rain stopped it was such a beautiful place i only wish the rain came happened i guess it was just not meant to be what s for dinner roast goose of course hong kong is know for dim sum and roast goose my mom always told me how she remembered my grandpa her dad brought a roast goose home from his visit to hong kong she remembers it vividly how it was still warm hong kong is just a 2 hour fight from vietnam and juicy and meat being fragrant and the skin melting in her mouth savoring every bite as they had the goose for dinner that day with so many places to eat how do you know who s the best luckly jacky the executive chef of wild ginger where i work is a native of hong kong he suggested yung kee so yung kee it is their roast goose was amazing the meat was juicy and marinated just right with a hint of sesame oil which i think they drizzled onto the duck just before serving although the sesame was detectable it was in now way overpowering only adding to the goose making it every so memorable besides their roast goose they also make their own century old eggs served with pickled ginger the egg was made very well not a hint of ammonia very mild creamy yolk with a transparent chewy white yum hong kong has so much to explore an taste i was only able to scratch the surface during my short visit and hope to one day stop by again wherever you decide to eat the food is always delicious seriously always delicious 1 53 am category 4 comments older posts about me hoangtam tt seattle washington united states view my complete profile archives 2014 2 june 1 vietnamese coffee canelé february 1 2012 2 april 1 january 1 2011 4 august 1 january 3 2010 6 december 1 july 1 april 1 march 1 january 2 2009 10 december 4 november 1 august 1 may 1 april 1 march 1 february 1 2008 12 december 1 november 1 september 1 july 2 june 2 april 2 march 1 february 2 2007 24 december 3 november 2 october 1 september 1 august 1 july 1 june 1 april 6 march 5 february 1 january 2 2006 167 december 7 november 8 october 3 september 9 august 8 july 13 june 14 may 22 april 1 march 14 february 34 january 34 2005 59 december 20 november 6 october 33 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