Imperfections

This is a short post just to wish you all Happy Valentine's Day. I tried making a roasted beet sorbet sandwich with chocolate sable breton cookie hearts. Although the sorbet went a little wrong, I will stop worrying about it and enjoy their aesthetic value. Let us just say that I prefer my beets savory and alas, this preference was the root of the problem. Maybe I should just call it a granita. Metaphorically speaking, the search for perfection is fruitless anyways and ultimately, I am loved despite all my own flaws. Will you be mine?

When life gives you apples...

Fresh local winter fruit is essentially non-existent in our northern climate. Imports from California, Mexico, or South America prevent me from developing scurvy through these cold months until I can indulge in Fraser Valley blueberries and Okanagan cherries once again. At the Winter Farmers Market, the fresh fruit selection includes only stored apples but there are a variety from which to choose.

My recent favourite has been the Ambrosia, a delicious eating apple, but they were unavailable and so a big bag of Honeycrisp came home instead. Unfortunately, these Honeycrisp were not so crisp and the picky apple eater in me refuses to eat a soft apple. But what a good excuse to make apple pie instead!


Funnily, I never had a home-made apple pie growing up until I made one myself in my late teens; however, I did consume my fair share of MacDonald's apple pie, those deep-fried golden bars ready to spill their molten apple innards which were replaced by the "baked" version in 1992. I remember them so well and with such disturbing fondness. Even the characteristic pillow box packaging makes me a little sentimental, thinking of the many times my sister and I would sit in the back seat of my mom's Volvo eating our MacDonald's apple pie while being shuttled between piano lessons and dance class.


Meanwhile, these Honeycrisp apple pies were assembled in small 5.5" diameter pie plates. This relieves the unavoidable urge for Eric and me to gluttonously consume an entire 9" diameter pie as fast as possible since a freshly baked pie is always yummier than leftover pie, in my opinion. Only one small pie was baked and shared à la mode while the rest patiently await their turn in the freezer. It's all about portion control, right?

It rings true

I was flattered this week to be referred to make a birthday cake by someone who I was lucky enough to work with during my most formative months as a very green pastry cook, during a time when my metamorphosis from medicine to pastry was still raw and disorienting. Undoubtedly, cake requests are always flattering but if the recommendation comes from someone equally or more qualified than me, the compliment is that much sweeter. Thanks Fionna.


This cake would satisfy any chocolate lover and is most elegant in its simplicity. I was asked to combine milk and dark chocolate in glorious mousse form and naturally, with rich chocolate cake. For some crunch, a sprinkle of cocoa nibs intermingled between the layers. My current design motif involves rings; I have recently been surrounding myself with annular patterns, in jewelry, a Pylones thermos, and now in chocolate. Perhaps, I'm tired of corners?

Some leftover mousse and cake allowed me to throw together a few individual portions to enjoy and photograph. Call it quality control or maybe show and tell, since with cake requests, I can never photograph a cake's interior and show it to you folks!

Gold and green

The traditional colour central to all Chinese weddings is red. From the invitation, to tablecloths, to the bride's dress, everything is red, representing love and happiness. Equally important in Chinese culture is prosperity which is represented by gold. Put red and gold together you have the obligatory Chinese wedding colour scheme. Personally, I do not think I have ever owned a red dress (I'm shy) and instead wore a ivory and gold cheong sam during my wedding reception.


For the unconventional Chinese bride who loves French pastry and citrus, lemon macarons with lemon curd and a sprinkle of edible gold dust were perfect. Although I have seen red macarons before in Paris which would have looked spectacular with a splash of gold dust, an unpleasant amount of artificial colouring is required to achieve an intense red that does not appear pink. As you may guess, I am not a big fan of red velvet cake either (sorry!).


As a nice pairing to the lemon macarons, there were also green tea macarons with white chocolate coconut ganache filling which received a light silver lustre. The flavours were very complementary and appealed to the Asian palate. Matcha powder is becoming easier to find in stores these days and gives a lovely earthy green hue to the final product; however, it does have a strong flavour which can be overpowering and if you use too much like I did in a pastry cream once, you end up with something that resembles algae!

Small packages

Not all couples get wedding cakes on their wedding day. In fact, I briefly considered having a wedding pie but did not have the guts to break from tradition. Our friends Kat and Calvin decided to have a selection of petits fours as part of their wedding celebration "after party" this weekend and I was happy to oblige. There were eight different types in total but here are four.


There were mini chocolate cupcakes with two types of Italian buttercream swirls, milk chocolate hazelnut or white chocolate passionfruit. Transporting them without utter destruction was a challenge, especially with those sinister potholes cropping up all over Vancouver streets lately. My solution was to use strips of double-sided tape on trays to prevent each mini-cupcake from getting too cozy with its neighbour.


Next, a delicate dark chocolate mousse bite included layers of strawberry gelée, caramel mousse, and chocolate dacquoise. Its fruitier counterpart was a quince bavaroise bite which was layered with mango gelée, lime marshmallow, and pistachio joconde and adorned with a small meringue heart. I just wished that I could have actually attended the event too but wifely duty called me elsewhere that evening. So, to the new husband and wife...congratulations Kat and Calvin!

Would we?

My husband and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary last week and despite the record snowfall in Vancouver, we had a superb time. In fact, five years earlier, our wedding day was preceded by snowfall which gave the perfect backdrop to our ceremony, cold and crisp but clear with freshly dusted North shore mountains glowing at sunset. Oh I'm gushing.


This year's gift, in accordance with the traditional anniversary gift list, is wood, seemingly not the most romantic of substances, but nonetheless worthy of giving in some form to the one you love. The Scrabble Premier Wood Edition game was the obvious choice for him, especially appropriate for wintery house-bound evenings. So far, we are tied at one game each and I am expanding my vocabulary with legitimate 2-letter words.


After some brainstorming, my secondary gift which had to be wood-related but edible was the cinnamon bun. True cinnamon is the bark from the Cinnamomum zeylanicum tree, although, what North Americans call cinnamon is more likely a related species, Cinnamomum aromaticum, which is also called cassia, a more intensely flavoured and woodier bark.


As seasoned alumni of the University of British Columbia, Eric and I both have a soft spot for those legendary UBC cinnamon buns and several years ago, I found the official recipe (I use butter instead of margarine). These buns are not as gooey and smothered in icing as typical cinnamon buns; instead, they have a lovely caramelized crust and soft interior. As a freshman, I may have consumed one per day before my waistline begged me not to. Happy Anniversary!

Spirit of giving

I used to get very anxious about Christmas gift giving. Finding the perfect gift for everyone on my list became an obsession and I was often guilty of being at the mall on December 24th at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. During my university years, however, I had an epiphany and began making identical gifts for each friend in order to make my life easier. One year, it was pillows. Another year, mosaic picture frames. My favourite was the year I made personal sized pavlovas for everyone.


The tradition fell dormant for about a decade because medical school and residency made me lazy in terms of creativity and friendships. Nowadays, I am appreciative of my opportunities to foster both and take much joy from my annual edible gift production.


On the menu this year were two items, mini-Florentine cookies and milk chocolate passionfruit caramel truffles. The Florentines are very cute, about the size of a Toonie, and textured with dark chocolate on the reverse. The truffles turned out slightly different than I had planned, but are nonetheless, exceedingly soft and delicious. The original ganache recipe used white chocolate and was meant to be piping consistency so next time I will need to make it even more firm to make my life easier during the rolling and dipping process. Note to self: buy truffle shells next year.


Since my frugality causes me to only make exactly what I need, when I do have leftovers, I make it a challenge to find a good use for them. For example, having a leftover blob of lime marshmallow (primary use to be revealed at a later date), the next logical step was to make a small marshmallow Christmas tree, decorated with leftover Halloween candy, leftover fondant daisy/star, and leftover silver dragées. Consider it a gift to you as a small token of thanks for your interest in my little blog in 2008. Happy Holidays!