Wasabi Dessert Room

As a bit of a treat to round off the week, the Man Candy and I went for dinner in China Town. The place was called Wasabi, and it was a sushi-off-the-belt sort of affair with added bowls of soupy goodness. After we'd finished we went upstairs to the 'dessert room' and got very excited at the menu. This is what we had...

green tea cheese cake

blueberry snow ice

almond and black sesame snow ice

It was like being in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Everything looked amazing, then when you tasted it, your mouth didn't know what to expect.  Everything we tried was a complete surprise, and the textures were all so different to what we were used to. Definitely worth another visit soon. 

Macarons, Take Three

It took most of the morning, but i finally managed to make decent Raspberry Mascarpone Macarons. I've been wanting to make them for ages, after being originally inspired by the blog Tartelette. She makes all sorts of amazing and peculiar flavoured macarons (as well as lots of other scrumptious looking dishes). Have a look through her recipe index at all the different sorts she makes. I'd love to try the Saffron + Pumpkin ones she's made, and the Coffee + Chicory ones. Now that i've got the basic method down, i'm feeling a bit overexcited at all the possibilities. 

Packing

i wouldn't mind packing if my suitcase and contents looked like this...

As much as i'm looking forward to going away tomorrow, i can't feel excited until i've got passed the packing. I hate packing, the only thing worse is unpacking when you come home. I've been so busy this week thinking about various Topman feedback sessions, and Ian Anderson hand-in dates, Berlin has sort of crept up on me. It's going to be very very cold (highs of minus numbers), and i feel the cold. There might have to be a cheeky hot-water-bottle-down-the-top manoeuvre, or else my extremities will drop off. I'm really looking forward to being a bit of a history geek, and going round all the museums and seeing the sights. Get ready for absolute tourist-mode.

p.s Is it wrong to want to lay everything out that i'm packing, in a neat, folded, organised way and photograph it before i actually pack it? I might do that...

Last Night I Dreamt Of Pears

A Sunday recipe for you: Flourless Chocolate Pear Cake

Ingredients:
85g butter, plus 1tbsp extra for the tin
85g golden caster sugar
85g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
1tbsp brandy
3 eggs, separated
85g hazelnuts, toasted and ground in a food processor
4 very ripe pears, peeled, halved and cored
icing sugar for dusting

1. Cut circle of baking parchment to fit base of a 25cm loose-bottomed tin. Melt 1tbsp butter and brush inside of tin, then line the base with the parchment and brush again with more butter. Spoon in 2tbsp caster sugar, swirl it around to coat the base and sides, then tip out any excess.

2. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan of hot wate. Remove from heat, stir in the brandy and leave to cool. Whisk the egg yolks with sugar in a large bowl until pale and think; fold into the chocolate with the hazelnuts.

3. In a separate bowl, with a clean whisk, beat the whites until they reach a soft peak (try not to whisk them too stiffly or you'll have trouble folding them in). Stir a spoonful of the whites into the chocolate mix, then carefully fold in the rest of them in 2 additions. Spoon into the prepared tin. Level, then arrange the pears over the mixture, cut-side down. Bake for 40 minutes until the pears are soft and the cake is cooked through. Leave to cool in the tin slightly before releasing it, then place on a rack to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar and serve with creme fraiche.
(Recipe from Good Food magazine)

Have a lovely Sunday!