D e l i s i o u c i t y

I’ve been dreaming of making macarons with pink peppercorns for ages. Here it is, married with a smooth, silky mascarpone filling that is just too simple to create that I wonder why I had not been using mascarpone for fillings all this time! (Oh wait a minute… I remember. They’re pretty useless as they don’t hold their shape in hot climates) :p These were made over the weekend and if you’re wondering what’s up with the sudden surge of posts and food extravaganza, I’ve got plenty of reason. A couple of projects in the pipeline and I’m just testing out recipes I’ve never done before. For now, it’s hush-hush!

Pink Peppercorn with Strawberry Mascarpone Macaron
By Nikki A. , www.delisioucity.com

110g almond powder
200g confectioner’s sugar
A handful of peppercorn, rubbed to obtain the pink shell
100g egg whites (aged for 24 to 48 hrs)
25g caster sugar
A pinch of salt
Some red food colouring

Sift the almond powder and confectioner’s sugar together, making sure you push the larger particles through the sifter using a rubber spatula. Set aside. In a mixer, beat the egg whites with salt until foamy. Add the caster sugar little by little and continue to beat the egg whites until it forms a soft peak when lifted with your finger. You may add the colouring during this process. Then combine the dry ingredients together with the whipped egg white, and fold the two together in a scooping motion. Scrape the sides of your bowl as you scoop and fold, making sure that you don’t over-macaronnage. Once your batter starts to form a ‘ribbon’ or have the consistency of flowing magma, stop folding. Prepare a piping bag with a round tip. Insert the batter in the piping bag, and start piping the batter onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Sprinkle some of the peppercorn skin onto the macaron shells. Let the piped batter rest for about 20 minutes (or longer, depending on the humidity of the day), and once they form a ’skin’ or are dry when you touch them with your finger tip, you can pop them in a preheated oven. Bake at 175C for 15 minutes. Once done, leave them to cool before taking them off the parchment.

Strawberry Mascarpone filling

250gm mascarpone
A handful of fresh strawberries

Beat the mascarpone with a hand-held mixer. Chop the strawberries and add a little at a time to the mascarpone. Incorporate and ensure that the strawberries are pulverized. Fill in the centre of a macaron shell, and cover with another piece of shell. Refrigerate for 24 hours to enhance the taste of the macaron.

Just a word of wisdom about macaron textures: I believe that some people have been misled to think that macarons are these hardy, tough, crunchy things that are (god forbid!!) made of coconuts. Those are macaroons! Yes, yes of course some patisseries and patissiers insist on calling macarons macaroons, and that’s their prerogative (read here to know when a macaron really is a macaron). The point is not to mistaken these beautiful delicate things for the coconut cookie version ;p And worst still, there are macarons out there that have this awful chunky skin that crunches as you bite them and you’re left with a dry crumble that is absolutely traumatizing to the palate – especially for people who experience their first macarons. They’re not meant to be that way, I can assure you. And the insides should be a little bit cakey and semi-wet; not dry and unappetizing. It’s awful that some patisseries taunt their colourful macarons in their posh glass cabinet and you find that they’ve done it all wrong: from the shell to the filling. I am no expert but I know that it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that appearances alone just don’t cut it – no matter how smooth, and cute the tiny gerbets look.

Maybe I’m a tad too harsh here. After all, the Italian meringue technique does indeed yield a ‘tougher cookie’. It does yield a crunchier skin but not to the extent of utter dryness that you can here a snap when biting through. I used to adore the Italian meringue method, and whenever I made them, the shell was always a lot less moist (hence more robust and won’t crack as easy). But I have to confess that the French meringue method is simply a forte I have learned to claim – perhaps more than anything because of its simplicity, and secondly the resulting ’shine’ on the shell left by the sugar. Haha that’s a bit of a tongue twister. Anyway, I’m not one to kiss and tell; but the macaron on the left above is a raspberry mini mac that just won’t tear off upon biting that nothing but crummies fell into my mouth! It came from a renowned French pastry chef’s cafe et patisserie right here in Oxford. Enough said ^_^

Hands down, my favourite flavour to date.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that because I wasn’t brave enough, the taste of pink peppercorn in this macaron wasn’t overpowering in any sense. In fact I wish I had put in some of the crushed pepper in the mascarpone filling. Contrasts are wonderful when done right ^_^ (enter Pierre Herme!)

That’s it from me for now, see you again soon!
xoxo

Sometimes, and for no reason at all, I grab my camera and start shooting randomly. I also will end up with a stiff neck because I know better that my hands are not that steady and an investment in a tripod is possibly a reality  in the horizon. The stiff neck comes from the peering about into the small camera peep-hole thingamajiggy (let’s save the lingo for another day, shall we?) and the fact that I am utterly obsessed about capturing tiny details (a.k.a macros). Technically, I need a proper macro lens of some sort (again, let’s skip the jargon), but holy cr*p, these things cost a bomb. Na-ah, no way.. at least not now. But I soooo want to capture details badly!! It’s probably my number one most annoying trait, this fixation with details. So I’m calling for any photog addicts out there willing to mentor me in exchange for desserts ^_^ (batting eyelids). Anyone?

In the meantime, I’m posting up some pictures of objects that I love and that provides me with calmness and inspiration. Some of these were taken at my oldest sister’s beautiful home in Kuala Belait.. and not so incidentally, she is also a little bit obsessed with details. It must probably run in the family. (P/s Ka, I love your home and  your new car and thank you for belanja-ing us yesterday. My turn next time when a certain someone gets back to Brunei). hehee.

One of the reasons why I truly enjoy randomly snapping away at certain places is the fact that there is natural light available there. I love the open, minimalist concept of certain homes de-cluttered of accessories that do not necessarily complement their interior designs. What I especially love are colours that neutralize the environment from outdoors – like shades of gray and white, and different tones of earthy brown. When strong opposites lay side by side, or merely juxtaposed against one another, you see a contrastingly beutiful effect that gives a sense of homeliness and nature – such as splashes of fresh green or sexy plum against said neutral colours, bien sur. What minimalist, open-air concepts can do is to make photographing easier as I don’t have to search for the light as much as I would be taking random pictures at night! Now if only these darn cameras weren’t so heavy, I could actually reduce my shaking and blur (yes, this is in spite of the Image Stabilizer function). boo.

I’d like to share with you a recipe too, today. It’s inspired by one of Nigella Lawson’s express meals, and delivers the whole colour/texture contrast that I love so much

Crab meat with Avocado and Wasabe Wrap
Adapted from Nigella’s Express

A can of good quality crab meat
An avocado, sliced lengthwise or balled with a melon-baller
A tablespoon of wasabe paste
Pinch of salt and pepper to taste
Lettuce leaves
Tortilla wrap or thin wholewheat pita bread

Drain the crab meat and mix with wasabe paste. Season to taste. Arrange the lettuce leaves on a tortilla wrap, and add a spoonful of crabmeat, topped with avocados. Tuck in one edge of the wrap to cover the filling, and roll. You may also ’seal’ this wrap by press-grilling the whole thing. Cut diagonally and enjoy.

Finally, I want to introduce you to Memie the cat. He resides at my mum’s home and although I am a genuine cat-lover person, I am not allowed to have a cat at our home because number one, husby does not want to be responsible for the waste-management duties of felines (boo!), and two, my constant baking means that cat hair or the possibility of cat cooties flying about is not a good one. hehe. Ah well.

He does know how to werq it like a true model, doesn’t he? Being fully aware of my photo-snapping sounds and all. *eye roll*

xoxo

The event covered in this post happened yonks ago and I’ve finally finished editing the draft after so much procrastination ^_^ Happy reading, and glad to have met you that day!

Oh the sparkle in his eyes! What a stick of Cuppiepop can do to a boy.

It was the 6th anniversary celebration of ranoadidas.com on Friday 12th June, and I was very excited to have been invited by Rano himself to participate in one of the booths there. Actually that’s quite understated. I was over the moon, and simply couldn’t contain myself, as witnessed by my much understanding and extremely supportive husby ^_^ So on we went! We planned and we planned for the official debut of Delisioucity’s fine desserts and patisseries, and yet we still found there was SO much to learn out of the whole experience. Customer preferences, logistics, product testing… oh just to name a few. We did get a few things right though, exemplified by the 100+% turnover that I got out of sales. At the end of the day, it’s great to have been given such an opportunity, which is why I want to thank you, Rano! It helps a lot too that www.ranoadidas.com is the 3rd most visited site in Brunei, and not surprisingly, its author  is one the most popular figures in local innovative entrepreneurship in the country.

But most importantly, if you came to the soiree and ate from my booth, thank you too! Even if you just dropped by to say hello; I really enjoyed talking to all of you ^_^ I hope you liked the food… because some of you actually looked like you did (hehe). So here Im showing some pictures that husby took of everyone who seemed delighted with Delisioucity! Bless

Simply delighted with the Banana Crumble Tartelettes

Personally,  the event gave me an advantageous platform to gauge the market; albeit a small one. It was really my first time, proper, in running my own business unaided by the Internet. In making a presence in the blossoming local food industry, I feel slightly triumphant that day, because always in my mind since I opened up this blog, there is this desire to own a share of that lucrative food-industry pie. Besides, I’m known to easily tire of monotonous routines from work etc., and I think the food-blogging/business thing is taking my attention away quite successfully It’s sort of my take on balancing my life with reasonable doses of diversions and occasional difference… with the hope that I later get tired of it, and spring back to normality with much needed energy and inspiration.

Her daughter’s face tells it all!

You can’t fake a candid & genuine reaction to deliciousness!

Speaking of inspiration, I believe I got plenty from that event. I think chefs and cooks have the most satisfying jobs  in the world – because judging from the looks on peoples’ faces, I feel thankful and positively overwhelmed with their acceptance of the kinds of treats that I make.  Of course, my regular job can be very rewarding too ^_^ (note to my colleagues who are reading this :p ) But I suppose this is somewhat different; when you bake something and it’s made out of passion and love (and a whole heap of OCB), then  it’s completely fullfilling to see the looks of joy and contentment when the food is eaten. It’s kind of touch and go, I realise that too. All is well nonetheless. Why? Because number one, I’ve been getting a steady stream of an average 100 unique visitors per day to this website since the event, and number two, a barrage of orders right into my inbox. Unfortunately, I just do not have the capacity to make so much (believe me, the past days I’ve been wishing I had octopus tentacles). So as much as I am uber greatful for the attention, I am also very humbled and wish to convey that the reason why I put up recipes in this blog is so that everyone can try a hand at baking themselves It’s very therapeutic, mind you!

Keeran & dad running an analysis of my goods ;p They ended up being our biggest buyers!

Finally, here’s a log of some of the items available that day. If you did eat from our booth, get ready for a jog down memory lane!

Banana Crumble Tartelettes

Macarons

Cuppiepops, with Cookies & Cream cake inside

Till next time! xoxo

Quote from urban dictionary’s definition of BFF:

This simply stands for best friend forever. A BFF is someone who has been there for you at all times and will listen to what ever you have to say. They will call you just to see how you are, but that’s if they’re not with you at the moment. Usually, a BFF is someone you’ve known most of your life and have been through a lot with them.

Thad: Dude, why are you always with Yamila?
Sonny: It’s simple, she’s my BFF.

Greg: What does BFF stand for?
Sonny: Best Friend Forever, idiot.

Haha

I was out with three of my BFFs (haha) during the weekend and had a really good time doing our usual random things. One thing that’s never random is of course, dining. Thinking that we had stuffed our faces for lunch and that a light dinner would do, we proceeded to a coffee-place, apparently ‘just for drinks’. That is, until the menu was read!

The venue was CoffeZone. I had their lamb cutlet, well done, and in black pepper sauce. With two heaps (or rather, generous quenelles) of mashed potato, it was a match made in the cesspits of gastronomic heaven. For a small/short person, this dish was a bit too much for me to be honest, and even my inner glutton couldn’t finish it up. But a pretty good and tender meat can never go wrong, especially when the chef did it spot on to the diner’s request. The mash too, was creamy and ultimately did me in with respect to a filling effect. I was very satisfied, I fank you.

The drink for me was comme ci comme ca though, and for a place called Coffeezone, my coffee drink wasn’t precisely memorable. They could truly do without the outdated (read: not classic) decor of the run-of-the-mill loveletter/wafer jutting-out-of-the-drink ensemble. T’s lemony drink was ok I suppose, at least we made plenty of jokes about the devil’s fork stir-er that was in the drink. And she seemed to have gulped her espresso cup in a blink ^_^ J also had two drinks:  a green tea  delight which was very nice (according to him), and a ‘normal’ moccachino. M was well stuffed and only had garlic bread which we shamelessly helped ourselves with Her drink? Can’t recall to be honest..

All in all, a pretty swell service from the attendants is what I really wanted to write about. I know of a lot of restaurants and diners here in Brunei that have excellent food but ultimately poor service. Some will not even apologise or have the decency to say please and thank you, and that’s an awfully common trait over here, for some reason. One thing I really loathe about some establishments is the fact that the waiters would hover about your table for the entire length of your meal, making you extremely conscious of your gob and the crummies that may be hanging about on your chin For some reason, their training probably included getting indoctrinated with a mantra on invading the privacies of their clientele whilst they eat! There is a fine line between being attentive, waiting hand and foot; and being just a plain nuisance. And coffeezone, at least that night, seemed to know the difference. So well done on that ^_^