the poison doughnut

Engagement cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Pinky) — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 00:51:00 +0000

Made these for some dear friends' engagement party. The recipe is here.

Ornaments

noreply@blogger.com (Pinky) — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 08:26:00 +0000

Coral reef

noreply@blogger.com (Pinky) — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 05:51:00 +0000

Coral reef by showpig featuring Alexander McQueen scarves

Morning tea

noreply@blogger.com (Pinky) — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 05:49:00 +0000

Morning tea by showpig featuring RED Valentino dresses

New shoes

noreply@blogger.com (Pinky) — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 06:08:00 +0000

My Trinkletinas arrived yesterday. A delicious and totally worth-it purchase from Irregular Choice.

Citrus pavlova with pomegranate

noreply@blogger.com (Pinky) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:00:00 +0000

I made this recipe for the pavlova: worked fine. On top I put some segmented blood grapefruit and mandarins, passionfruit and pomegranate seeds. I also added some creme fraiche under the fruit. I liked it a lot, even if OTHER PEOPLE were all like "Usually I have BANANA on a pavlova." Whatever, freaks: I like citrusy desserts and I get to make them how I want, so there. This was our Easter Sunday dessert.

Hot cross buns

noreply@blogger.com (Pinky) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:44:00 +0000

Nigella's recipe... it went well, but needs to be YEASTIER. MANY MORE YEASTS. These were a bit dead and doughy. Probably my fault- I will just yeast them up more next time. It was mega-fun

making them though.

Dyed eggs

noreply@blogger.com (Pinky) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:39:00 +0000

We dipped blown-out eggs in food dye and them impaled them on toothpicks in styrofoam to let them dry.

The Eight Kinds of Drunkenness

noreply@blogger.com (Pinky) — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 10:25:00 +0000

The sixteenth-century "listicle": the eight kinds of drunkenness.

Maison Larnicol Chocolaterie, Paris

noreply@blogger.com (Pinky) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 01:42:00 +0000

Well worth a visit: EVERYTHING is made of chocolate and there are billions of different scoop-your-own tiny chocolates. Chocolate praline-covered mandarin segments... have a look at their website.

Swiss supermarket

noreply@blogger.com (Pinky) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 05:14:00 +0000

I really love foreign supermarkets. I just want to SEE what is THERE that is NEW and EXCITING.

Whether it's true or not, I feel like you can get a real insight into a culture by trawling a supermarket. These are from the local Zurich supermarket (incidentally, the Swiss have already adopted the online shopping system where pictures of items are displayed on external walls, bus shelters, etc: you scan a picture of the item on your phone and it gets delivered to your home. Can't wait for that to happen here.)

Many many breads

Green "Sweetie" grapefuit

Dairy... huge, as always

Instant puddings and cakes

The chocolate section. NEVER have I seen more chocolate in one aisle... and this wasn't even half of it

Ready-made grill packs: smoked ham, sausages, chicken etc

Dried meat chips made from horse and chicken

Frozen whole sardines and mixed seafood

Ladurée (again)

noreply@blogger.com (Pinky) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0000

I've blogged about Ladurée before. This visit was JUST AS GOOD.

They make their own champagne: who knew.

I blogged about having a rustic kouign amman in St Malo a few years ago.

My favourite every pastry: the palmier (front left). The thing in the middle is a Paris Brest.

Fromagerie Alleosse

noreply@blogger.com (Pinky) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 04:31:00 +0000

Alleosse: the best cheesery in Paris.

Hotel de Ville markets, Paris

noreply@blogger.com (Pinky) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:54:00 +0000

These markets are just behind the Hotel de Ville on the north bank of the river. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. I could have watched and explored for hours.

Chicken pieces and skewers, seafood and vegetarian paella

Hams and wursts, pizza and savoury pastries

Charcuterie, terrines, brawn, head cheese, rillettes

Mince, rolled roasts, cured ham, bacon, speck

Root vegetables

Beetroot

Lettuce

Goose, guinea-fowl capon (young rooster)

Ready-rolled venison (doe), mushroom sauce, stuffing of mushroom and armagnac

Rabbit galantine

Roast chicken

Whole roast suckling pig, chickens and turkey

Dried fruits, beans and nuts

Stonefruit, lychees, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, cranberries, blackberries

Flavoured honey

Whelks

Deyrolle, Paris

noreply@blogger.com (Pinky) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:15:00 +0000

This was the best part of my trip. Deyrolle (a "Cabinet of Curiosities") is a company specialising in taxidermy (they also have a fair bit of botanical and entomological stuff, including posters, gardening equipment, mounting supplies, etc.) Their store is on the Rue du Bac on Paris's Left Bank, and has become a beloved local icon, rescued from fire, a tourist favourite and a museum/shop where you can marvel at the expertly preserved creatures... and buy one, if you can smuggle it home through quarantine. Deyrolle sells and exports to buyers all over the world, so if you're looking for a life-size bison, a segmented lobster or a glass-eyed woodland menagerie to grace your coffee table, they can help. I realized that what I really want in my dream home is a boudoir-retreat full of tropical plants and with a stuffed squirrel, forest mouse or a little brown bunny on my dressing table.

A typical French breakfast

noreply@blogger.com (Pinky) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 13:05:00 +0000

You better be into bread. And black coffee. And also have a sweet tooth. Cos that's basically how it is in France: bread or pastry with jam, honey or chocolate. Luckily it's all pretty delicious. These breakfasts are from Le Luxembourg near the Pantheon on Boulevard St. Michel.

Baguette, butter and jam

Hot mocha coffee with whipped cream

Café allongé (long black)

Le Bistrot du Peintre, Paris

noreply@blogger.com (Pinky) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 07:17:00 +0000

Le Bistrot du Peintre ("The Painter's Bistro") is in Paris's 11th arrondissement: in a slightly grubby, gritty, non-touristy part of town. The bistro itself is beautiful and full of gorgeous art-deco furnishings and finishes. We had a fantastic lunch here. The menu is full of Paris bistro and brasserie classics, like steak frites, composed salads, lovely cuts of meat and simple desserts.

Chewy sourdough baguette pieces with saucisson sec (dried sausage)

Beef tartare with pommes frites and salad

Crispy canard confit (duck leg) with pommes frites and salad

Creme caramel

Rue Poncelet market, Paris

noreply@blogger.com (Pinky) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 06:24:00 +0000

Rue Poncelet is in the 17th arrondissement, not far from the Arc de Triomphe / Etoile and the top of the Champs-Elysées. I thought the market was very beautiful.

Clementines are like a half-orange, half-mandarin. I can't get enough of them.

Rolls of filleted fish, shellfish and crabs.

Ready-roasted turkey, beef, veal and lamb.

Girolles are a beautiful autumn-winter forest mushroom.

Paris Christmas florist

noreply@blogger.com (Pinky) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 05:19:00 +0000

Christmas travels

noreply@blogger.com (Pinky) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 02:21:00 +0000

I'm spending Christmas in Europe, like some sort of peasant orphan globetrotter. Paris, Zurich and Vienna, with a forecast of a cold snap all through December and temperatures well below zero at times. Hot chocolate in a left-bank Art Deco cafe? Yes. All-day shoe and brooch hunts through the Marais? Yes. Gluhwein and carols in St Stephen's Square? Lying in the bath with champagne while snow falls outside the window? Also yes.

Platform obsession

noreply@blogger.com (Pinky) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 02:01:00 +0000

I'm currently going through a shoe phase. Gazing at shoes online is my new therapy and mode of relaxation. Want all!

Kugelhopf

noreply@blogger.com (Pinky) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 10:43:00 +0000

This is Dorie Greenspan's recipe for kugelhopf: I made the recipe as written here.

It's technically a kugelhopf made in the wrong pan. This is a rose-shaped bundt pan. A kugelhopf is traditionally supposed to be in a tall swirly turban-like shaped pan.

I found out a few things while planning this cake:

1. A bundt cake in modern parlance is an American term for anything baked in a bundt tin of whatever shape, typically some sort of pound cake or heavy cake in any flavour. You can get bizarro bastardised versions in sour cream and carrot, black forest, pecan caramel, etc.

2. A bundt cake in the traditional sense is a German chocolate-laden thing, still in the fancy shape but with cinnamon-coffee-mocha-type flavouring.

3. A kugelhopf is not a bundt cake. It is like a brioche, but not. It has raisins in it and runs on yeast, not self-raising flour. So it is like a half-bread, half-cake bakery mutant.

I also learned that flour can Do Things I Did Not Know It Could Do. When the dough was first mixed, it was super-sloppy, almost like pancake batter. I was all like "whatever, it's screwed, I put too much milk in it". Then Dorie was all like "beat it in the mixer until the end of time." I was like "whatever Dorie, that's never going to become a cake, or even remotely dough-like. Good luck, lady." But anyway, I did the eternal mixing, and slowly it came together and all the gluten strands stretched and stretched and eventually it was like smooth stretchy chewing gum. No joke. I was amazed. Then it had to rise and be knocked back about six times, then sit overnight, then rise again for hours. By the end of all that I was like "THIS BETTER BE WORTH IT". Anyway, it totally was.

This thing came out of the oven and it was light, richly flavoured (no doubt from maturing and rising and yeasting for so long) and the raisins were soft and juicy, and it was awesome. I also dusted it with cinnamon along with the sugar. It was delicious with coffee. Perfect for afternoon tea. Or breakfast. Or dessert. Incredible.

My tip: if you use a bundt pan or a rose pan or anything with tons of ridges or moulded detail, butter it real good, butter it again and then lightly flour the tin as well. I hate it when things stick to pans.

Wagaya

noreply@blogger.com (Pinky) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 05:31:00 +0000

Sake Restaurant

noreply@blogger.com (Pinky) — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 03:11:00 +0000

Level 1/45 Eagle Street Pier.

Beef teriyaki on sauteed shiitake and buckwheat with yakiniku sauce

Seaweed salad with bonito-infused vinaigrette

Tuna tataki salad (sesame-soy dressing, horseradish, with daikon-wrapped salad rolls)

Chicken karaage

Assorted tempura (prawns, carrot, avocado, eggplant, fish)

Slow-roasted tomato salad with pickled cucmber, silken tofu and soy dressing

Chicken teriyaki on bok choy with spring onions

French Festival 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Pinky) — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 02:51:00 +0000

Really, we only went for the macarons. These ones were from the Belle Epoque stall (made by their patisserie at the Emporium). The salted caramel was by far, and really by far, the absolute best. The others were also excellent but just too sweet for me. Apart from that the festival was well-attended, despite there being not as many "fun" stalls as I remember from last year (jewellery, clothes, homewares etc) and just lots of corporate and travel-agent stalls. Meh. Stage performers tried hard, but the crowd wasn't in the mood to be interactive (note to festival organisers: Francophiles and language people generally don't enjoy calling out lame responses and yelling out how they're feeling. It's not Homebake. Or a Wiggles concert). The coffee was OK, considering. Some good efforts from food stalls: merguez, rillettes, quality fromages, crepes and the like. Too many middle-aged women in berets and swishy coats for my liking: they looked like they were off to a fancy-dress French Stereotypes cocktail evening. Leave the flag-themed outfits and pompom hats to the little girls- there were MANY and they were all ADORABLE. Likewise for the schnauzer in a sweet little red harness, nomming away on a bread stick. I WANT ONE.